Letters from Home

How does one get mail to a submarine? I have been learning the answer to this question over the past few months. There are two general ways that mail is delivered. One is to an an FPO address, which I could send mail to without any idea of where or when it would get to anyone. There were also usually mail drops for each port call, which would be taken by hand by someone who was meeting the sub in that port. I had success in getting mail to my husband by both methods. The usual sequence of events for the latter method went something like this:

Tuesday 4pm: I receive an e-mail from the ombudsman reading, "MAIL DROP! Please have letters to my house by 9AM on Thursday!!" Mind you, the ombudsman lives about 3000 miles away from me.

Tuesday 11:45pm: I am bouncing back and forth between the computer and kitchen table, writing cards, clipping photos, and stuffing envelopes, while sipping a delicious Malbec. I check the USPS website to see what kind of express mail guarantees they have. It can be guaranteed by noon on Thursday. The ombudsman needs the letters by 9am. I check UPS. They can do a super duper overnight by 8am for the same price I could get for selling my left arm. FedEx would like my left leg as well for the 8am guarantee. I e-mail the ombudsman, "Can I get it to you by noon??" by the grace of God, she replies promptly, "sure that's fine!" Phew. I do not need another glass of Malbec. :)

Wednesday 8am: I'm telling the lady at the post office, "This needs to get to California by TOMORROW." She clicks about 16 buttons, "okay let me check and see if that's possible." [clicks 10 more buttons] "Okay I can have it guaranteed by noon." I already knew this, but am reassured by her telling me. I take my receipt and leave the post office, praying that my package will not get lost.

Writing out cards ahead of time for my husband to open on specific dates was the number one piece of deployment advice I received from the seasoned Navy wives. I brushed it off at first thinking, "Justin hates cards!" He has always preferred face to face communication over writing. It turns out, when cards are his only connection to the outside world, he likes cards.

I wonder where he stored all of these...

I imagined I would have a lovely blog post to write about all the wonderful care package ideas I had, but the only things besides cards that I sent were instant coffee and candy. Even this seemed silly as he could easily buy those things in port. I really wanted to send some baked goods, but having cookies sit around for an indefinite amount of time in an unknown climate didn't seem like a great idea. He is also very limited on space, so I didn't want to send anything that would just end up being a waste of precious space. Usually the mail drops were limited to envelopes anyways.

Etsy & Papyrus are my friends