Be careful who you make fun of, you might turn into them.

On the third Friday of every month I get off work at noon because I work on the following Saturday. I was just hanging around the house waiting for 3:30 to roll around so I could go exercise when I realized the day’s date was JAN 14, the day before Matt’s birthday!

Matt is one of my four nephews and nieces who all have birthdays in January. I had birthday cards and presents bought for all of them, I just hadn’t realized it was time to start mailing them. Yikes!

I was running around the house looking for a box that would hold Matt’s 6 piece present. Is a box of my own or a flat rate box a better deal? I weighed and measured a generic box and then looked up postage on the USPS website. It would be half the cost of a flat rate box. I wrapped the six pieces in tissue paper and laid them in my box.

That’s when the search for the birthday cards began. Where are they? What would I have done with them when I took them out of the Hallmark bag? Your guess is as good as mine.

Time was running short so I addressed the box, wrapped tape around it and headed to the post office. It was 3:25. As I followed the postmaster in from taking down the flag, he asked, “What took you so long?”

We usually have long conversations about nothing; but that day he was ready to close up and go home. He got my package taken care of post haste and I was out the door in time for him to lock it at 3:30.

Walking to my car, I realized there wasn’t a card or any explanation of the gift inside the box. It’s a good thing I put a return address label on the package or Matt would have no idea who it was from. I thought, “I need to text Matt and let him know about the phantom box that was coming his way.

Of course I didn’t have his phone number, so after exercise I called my mother-in-law and got it from her. I texted Matt a message that was becoming a short novella when I decided to wait till the next day and wish him a happy birthday and warn him about the box in fewer words.

It took me nearly my entire lunch break to write the text message to Matt. I don’t text very fast and I gave him nearly as many details as I’ve given you. Message sent, Matt was taken care of. On Tuesday after Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I’d need to mail Lisa’s package to her.

I stopped at Beth’s house to get Owen so he could spend the rest of the weekend with us. I mentioned to Beth that it was Matt’s birthday to which she replied, “No it isn’t. Matt’s birthday is January 22.” I believed her because her birthday is July 22.

I told Beth about sending Matt a text message and she thought I probably didn’t have Matt’s new phone number. She was right again. I had Matt’s old Oklahoma City number instead of his new iphone Tulsa number. I got Matt’s number corrected in my phone and sent a text wishing Micah a happy birthday with a brief version of the birthday fiasco.

My Tuesday To Do list now says: send gifts to Micah, Abby and Lisa.

I’m not sure, but I think I might hear Grandma Jewell laughing, “That’ll teach you to make fun of me, now you are just like me.”