Post office mishap reunited family

That was a long drive but it was worth it. Our niece’s daughter, Isabella, is a Girl Scout. We all know that Girl Scouts sell cookies. Being good aunts and uncles, we ordered our favorites. After the cookies came we sent a check to pay for the treats plus postage.

They never got the check. Finally, we received a note from the post office saying that there had been a problem. Included in the envelope was our check. It was in pristine condition. There wasn’t a smudge, tear or other damage anywhere. Even so, we were glad to know that it was no longer among the missing.

Wanting to make sure Isabella was paid for the cookies I suggested that we could go down to the other side of Cincinnati and personally hand the check to them. Isabella's parents, Margaret and Bob, said it was fine by them.

I had heard that my sister-in-law and brother-in-law were going to be there and thought that we could have a good family visit. We hadn't seen that side of the family since before the pandemic.

I didn’t realize that Sunday was Isabella’s first communion and that was why Margaret’s parents were there. They had gotten home from church and the girls changed into more comfortable clothes by the time we arrived. Isabella’s little sister was in her pajamas and Isabella had on shorts and a T-shirt.

It took a little more than three hours for us to get there. The day was sunny and cheerful. There were several detours and ‘men working’ signs. The marked detours were easy to follow and didn’t add a whole lot of time to our trip. We never did see any men working. That was probably because it was a sunny Sunday morning and the workers were in church or maybe it was their day off.

Margaret’s sister, Jane also dropped by. Jane’s little girl, Molly, was in dire need of a nap. She had to be tired because she kept saying she wanted to go to sleep. They left before the rest of us did. I expect that her mom didn’t get out of the subdivision before the child was asleep.

The adults had a great time catching up. We were missing my brother-in-law, Joe, and his wife, Diane. They opted to stay home. I think that they are even farther away than we are. We are hoping the next time we have an excuse to visit doesn’t conflict with anyone else's plans.

As busy as everyone is these days, coordinating schedules can be difficult. One would think that with all of the adults involved being retired that it would be easier. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Part of the problem is that we are all getting older. Driving isn’t as fun as it used to be. We all get tired quicker and a three-hour trip is more taxing than it used to be. Sitting that long makes our backs hurt. Plus, gas is too expensive to waste it on a long Sunday drive.

Isabella had a soccer game to go to that afternoon. We said our goodbyes and headed for home. It began raining before we got a mile away from their house. We drove in and out of the rain most of the way home. It had mostly let up by the time we were 10 miles or so from home. At least it wasn’t ice.

Even though it was tiring to sit in the car that long, catching up with loved ones made it all worth it. And to think a missing check made it all possible. Thank you post office for finding our lost check and for giving us a great day.