“Remoted” Day 358 (Tuesday)

Things got done. 

Yesterday, which, according to Facebook memories, was coincidentally the ten year anniversary of the receipt of the last passport, a return trip to the Post Office to mail the passport renewal was scheduled for 11:00. The first attempt at mailing the passport renewal on Friday was thwarted by the missing passport card, left at home on the table.

The planned post office trip was officially entered into the official Outlook calendar that reminds me of the things logged upon it as appointments and meetings. Beginning at 10:45, the alert was snoozed, snoozed again, then moved to 1:00, where it was again snoozed and then dismissed. Moving it to Tuesday was considered, but it was deleted instead. The USPS site was consulted and it was learned that the location near me on Father Morrisette opens at 7:30. This was perfect.

At 8:00 this morning, thanks to light traffic and a smidgeon of ambition, I was holding a Priority Mail envelope containing the passport book and card, renewal form, and check, third in the queue behind a couple that was mailing two boxes in a process that took what felt like forever to my insufficiently caffeinated self. Fortunately, it did not actually take forever. It was just that mysterious extension of time that makes everything happen in a state of suspended animation within the confines of the USPS lobby.

Boxed and ready for BBBS.

After the post office there was a trip to the ATM at the branch location near my house, and by 8:20 I was back at home. The passport renewal was on its journey to the Philadelphia processing center, there was a new book of stamps with pictures of pretty flowers in my wallet, a fresh cup of coffee had been poured into a mug, and I was sitting in my blue chair at my yellow desk logging into the network to start the workday.

After work there was a board meeting followed by the finishing of the packing of the donation boxes for the Wednesday pickup by Big Brothers Big Sisters. I wish there was more going out the door, but the donation request came just last week and it took a couple days to commit to the pickup and then gather the items. I never even got to the closets. But it got done. It’s not anywhere near close to everything that could or should be sent off to a new life somewhere else, but it’s what could be gathered on short notice to be packed to be gone. 

Sandwiched between the post office success and the donation box triumph was work and then a board meeting. Between work and the board meeting, paper templates were traced and cut to help with the artwork placement that has been waiting to be hung for months (years?). This is the most activity for a weekday in months. There was makeup on the face at 7:30 am, and except for the mask wearing out of the house, it felt old-time, pre-pandemic normal.