Well after a few long days, the inner workings of the US Postal Service have been demonstrated. Finger still burning from the sealing wax, we sent out the announcements on Tuesday. By Wednesday, the first message arrived in Waterloo, NY (it’s about 30 minutes from here) as we received our first congratulatory call from Kim’s dad. We expected this – dropping a letter to Waterloo is practically like walking it down the street.
We assumed the rest of the mail would reach Philly the next day, and we braced for the crush of phone calls. My office is still in the dark (about the pregnancy and a lot of other, dark, dark secrets), so I pre-formulated rationales to leave the office to take the calls. “It’s my broker,” or “It’s my day to hang up on the telemarketers,” or even “Damn cats, always calling.” Kim and I IM’d back and forth all day in nervous anticipation.
Finally, around 8 PM we received a call from my sister, who lives about 30 minutes north of everybody else. The flow of mail apparently only makes it 3 hours in 2 days. She was naturally excited about the news, and vowed to maintain her silence until the rest received their announcements. General consensus of the announcement: “You are freaking weird.”
That brings us to today. Surely the world would receive it all today and i would be forced to delve into my excuses to stem the tide of my constantly buzzing cell phone. Kim and I IM’d back and forth all day in nervous anticipation, again.
Nothing in the morning.
Nothing in the afternoon.
Finally, around 5 Kim received a call from my sister in law. Then my grandmother. Then, finally and much to my wife’s delight, her mother called, and a week’s worth of pent up conversation flowed between mother and daughter. Nothing from my parents yet – although my grandmother let it slip that they know via her letter, but apparently haven’t received theirs yet.
Of course, ironically, they were the ones we were trying to surprise the most – they had no idea we were even trying.
Tomorrow, we clean up and hatch a plan to surprise my office friends at our party on Sunday. Our original plans have already gone up in smoke because my boss is currently in the hospital inducing labor. I asked if they thought they’d be done by Sunday to attend the party – I got a dirty look for my efforts…
Oh, the best laid plans of mice and men…
