Dear Thief

mail-out: 013by *fydbac

Dear Thief,

    Why me, why my package to my Mom?  Was it because it was long distance?  Was it because of the weekend?  Were you desperate?  Why did you cut me open and make me feel raw and naked?  Seeing my memories. Memories that were mine and my Mom's.  You cut the box open and read my handmade card, all the memory cards I attached to each one of her gifts. Then you took half of the box's contents, ripped off the mail  price code. Perhaps you thought my Mom wouldn't notice, but she did.  She thought my package was odd,when she received it yesterday.

     Yesterday, she called and thanked me for her Mother's Day package.   I said, "what did you think of this note, that?"  All of the gifts had special tags attached. I wrote about a memory relating to the gift I selected.  She laughed and said, she loved everything. She loved the Somerset Studio magazine and my Sunshine banner. She knew it was about her and the neighbors giving sunshine baskets to shut ins, people who had been sick or sad. She knew I had written an article to go with it, but it didn't get published. We talked about it....  "How did you like the elephant, I tucked in?" 

                   "What elephant?" she sounded puzzled.

     My Mom collects elephants, she had to part with some to move into her new place. This elephant was the movie, Water for Elephants.  She hadn't seen it. She had car issues, the garage she took her car to had burnt down. She had to find another garage, so did everyone who had their business there.  It took a month to get her car done. Parts needed to be ordered and she wasn't this garage's original customer. She didn't go downtown much this past winter. I knew she couldn't get the movie in the REDBOX anymore, so I purchased it for her.  I wrapped it special, with popcorn and her favorite Lindt chocolate bar.  YOU took her  movie, the pretty blouse in her favorite color, sage green and the handmade card, the check for her to go treat herself  to Chinese food, a special coffee and her favorite sandwich, a Reuben.    I suspect YOU work at the post office.

   Why do I think that?!  The postage sticker was removed and the box was taped differently.  I had filled her package and she noticed the candy bag, with the special May basket was cut.  So thief, you used a box cutter and gutted my package, took what you thought of value. You took half the box and removed the postage, so she wouldn't think it odd. It was odd...we always look at the postage.

     See, we have mailed things a lot in the past 27 years.  Me, being married to a man who made the Navy his career and altered my life plan, by all this moving.  I grew up in small town America, where everyone knows you or a family member, you are connected to.  Mail has been my main connection with my loved ones. It has kept me sane. A way to keep connected, share our memories,  and our love.  I have mailed odd things and received a few odd ones, too.  When I was in Maine,  I mailed hubby car parts. He was on and island off the coast of Alaska.  It was cheaper for me to buy parts and mail them. I supplied hubby and friends with parts for their junk yard war type vehicles.   I have received odd mail.  I mailed my husband Christmas. on a Navy Destroyer.  He received 10 packages. When he was in Bahrain, I mailed him food to enhance his Thanksgiving dinner. One year my brother mailed me a dog for my 25th birthday. We couldn't have a pet where we lived, so he mailed me a Pound Puppy. I took a photo of my stuffed dog tied to a fence, named it and mailed it back.  It was a big joke, I mailed him lots of photos of my puppy.  My mom mailed me a squash from her garden, angel food cake pans, and lots of photos. I mailed Mom volcanic ash, when Mt. Spurr erupted, while I was in Alaska. It helps your garden grow.  One year Mom mailed me Lilacs, from Maine to Florida. One of the worst scents ever is to receive a cooked bouquet of lilacs. She didn't consider the humidity and heat on my end.   My uncle mailed me Lily of the Valley plants one year on my birthday. It birth flower for the month of May.  My Mom mailed my son a dinosaur that growled. She took the batteries out. When I received the box, I opened it and put the batteries in and wrapped the package for my son.  "Grammie mailed me something that growls?"  He was three and got a big kick out of the package. I had tucked it back in the original mail box.

      I have never had a problem with the mail till yesterday, when Mom received her gift box. You stole from us, but you can not have our memories. Yes, you violated our privacy, stole her gifts, but you did not steal the love that was enclosed in that box. I will do another box, I will mail it to her old address, where there has never been a problem. I will mail something again to her, but it will always be insured.  Peace of mind should not have to cost more money, but in this case it does!   I know you will do it again, the sad thing is are you someone I use to know?  I lived around that area. Are you someone so desperate that you really needed these gifts?  Why couldn't you leave the card or toss the check back in...you will have a hard time cashing it.  Maybe in your criminal state, you had no time...you grabbed what you hoped would be cash.   How many others did you steal from this week?  How many other Mother's Days did you ruin?  Thanks postal worker!  There is no way anyone else did it...it was an inside, in house job. 

Sincerely pissed,
A daughter