The thing about being a kid is that sometimes you can build up something in your head to the point of monumental proportions. You just keep on assuming that whatever that item is will be the greatest thing ever. For quite a bit of the last year, my kids have been utterly enamored with the post office. It's not because it's really the greatest place on earth or anything. In fact, they didn't really know anything at all about it. That's probably the reason for their extreme curiosity.
Bethany and I both serve in the HOA for our neighborhood. As part of my duties, I basically volunteered to check the HOA mailbox at our local post office once or twice a week. When I stop to check it, I generally just leave the kids in the car, locking the doors behind me, and turning on remote start so that it stays warm or cold depending upon the season. Then, approximately 20 seconds later I'm back in the car and we're on our way. Friday was a different experience though as I actually had some business to take care of meaning that the kids got to actually come in the post office with me.
The business of the day was to mail 57 bills for HOA dues to residents of our neighborhood. Our hope had been that I might be able to buy postage at the front desk of the post office and they would apply it for me. Instead, when I asked for postage for 57 items, I was basically handed 57 stamps and told to get to work. Therefore, my stamps and I (with the kids in tow) headed to a table to start placing stamps on envelopes.
After the first couple of stamps, Ellie became curious about
what I was doing. From her viewpoint, it seemed like I was just arbitrarily
applying stickers to each envelope. After I explained to her that it requires
money to mail anything and that the stamp represented money, she asked if she
could help apply the stamps. Since I had 57 to do and I didn't want to be at
the post office all day, I decided to take her up on her offer. After I
explained that the stamp needs to go in the corner of the envelope facing a
certain direction, I handed her a book of stamps and a pile of envelopes and
let her get to it.
Finally, the two of us finished applying stamps to all 57 envelopes and it was time to deposit them in the mailbox. Ethan, for his part, was not really happy about missing out on the stamping. However, he was more than able to place envelopes in the mail slot. Ethan and Ellie took turns dumping piles of envelopes into the mail slot until finally all 57 were mailed and our job was done. After that, there was nothing left to do for the day besides go to the trampoline park in the morning and the swimming pool in the afternoon. However, those stories aren't nearly as exciting as the one where we applied stamps and mailed letters.
#DaddyWrite
No comments:
Post a Comment