Priority Mail

Thirteen days ago (on Friday the 13th) I boxed up my latest art project, paid for "priority mail" online at the US Postal Service website, printed a label, and mailed my treasure off to Thurso on the northern tip of Scotland. Would the package arrive in time for the Brough Bay and Castletown Heritage Society fund raiser conceived by artists Joanne Kaar and Liz O'Donnell? I held my breath and crossed my fingers.

USPS "priority mail" comes with a tracking number that gave me a link to a site where I could in theory, watch the progress of my package. I checked each morning and evening for the next five days. Nothing except a notice, "Electronic Shipping Info Received." Last Wednesday two more lines appeared on the page, "Arrived At Sort Facility" and "Processed Through Sort Facility" in Los Angeles. My first thought, If it took five days to travel ONE thousand miles, how long will it take to go the next FIVE thousand miles? All I could do was wait and let Joanne know my package might not arrive by the June 20th deadline.

I became obsessed with the USPS tracking website checking it too many times a day to admit. The deadline passed, the weekend passed, nothing for eight days. This morning started with a ritual visit to USPS online. No progress. Maybe I should check the fund raiser site where they post photos of the new arrivals, I thought to myself. In an instant, there it was - photos of my postcards in the hands of an artist in Scotland. A few minutes later a message from Joanne arrived in my email inbox, "Your SEA inspired postcards have arrived and they are fantastic." Yay!!!!

Just for giggles I checked USPS again. Nothing posted. Sigh, so much for "priority mail" and online tracking.

This is the second time I've participated in a fund raiser in Scotland. I folded Origami paper boats for the last one five years ago. Use these links to read about the project on my blog - "Paper Boats" and "Launched."

Visit the fund raiser website, view the postcards from all over the world, and bid on the artwork HERE.