The Box

Hello Friends and Neighbors,

I just came back from the local post office and I'm still shaking my head, totally perplexed. Our town is very small and we have a kind of alley behind our post office and city hall. It's probably railroad right of way, but that's not the point. You can drive behind the post office and drop your letters into the blue boxes without having to look for a parking place around front. As we pulled up to drop a letter in the box I noticed a box sitting on top of the center blue box.

Just as I let go of the letter I saw on the outside of the box what looked like a printer cartridge. Of course my mind began whizzing around and around. I told my husband to pull around front and I would go in and report what we saw and our suspicions. I say "our", but I could tell by his calmness that his mind wasn't going in the same direction as mine.

I went to the window and I heard someone talking although I couldn't see anyone, so I rang the bell. Well, this employee stepped up to the window and I ask her if she remembered several months ago when a bomb was discovered in a printer cartridge. She replied that she hadn't heard that news story. She did alert one of the guys in back to go check it out. I laughingly told him to please take my letter out of the box before he touched the package. I was lighthearted about it as he was, but you know this could have turned into a disaster real fast.

A few moments later he returned and brought the box inside and said that it was one that should have been brought inside. I turned and left all the while thinking maybe there was a reason they didn't bring it in. Yes, I'm a pessimist and I'm still waiting for the emergency sirens to sound. I hope it's nothing.

I was going to chat about something totally different today, but that incident put me to thinking about how unsure the world is today. Even in a small place like Vinita, you're aware of bad people and what they're capable of doing. It's sad, but we can't let our guard down anymore. Life as it used to be is gone forever. No more leaving your doors unlocked at night or leaving the keys in the car in the driveway. Heck, in the bigger cities you can't even start your car on a cold morning and go back in the house while you wait for it to warm up.

Neighbors don't visit much anymore, some don't even know one another. We've lost something very valuable and I'm afraid it won't ever return completely. It was called  "peace of mind". Once in awhile I feel peace surrounding me, but it doesn't exist for all and it certainly isn't a state of mind that is constant. We listen to the news and in the back of our minds, whether we admit it or not, we have to wonder what's going to become of this world. Our children and grandchildren will have to deal with harder issues than the ones facing us right now if something doesn't change.

Well there, I went and done it! I got on a real downer, just because of a strange box on the postal mailing box. I'm so sorry cause I really like to make people smile. Come back next time and maybe I'll tell you the story about my husband and the water leak. Oh and I want to preface it by saying, I tease him all the time and call him my tool man. NOT!

Until Later,
Okie Girl @ Home