my mailman…….
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
When you run a business from your house, and you work alllll the time, and run your household and clean, and run the kids to and fro and still run your business (yes, I know I mentioned that already), but I guess what I’m getting at is that when you are doing a million and one things day in and day out,,, the LAST thing you want to worry about is having to get your product to the post office in a timely manner so that it can go out in the time that you’ve promised your customers that it would. My mailman, Patrick, has got to be the best mailman EVER IN THE WHOLE ENTIRE WORLD….. and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. He is not only a great mailman, but he is one of my very greatest friends. I see him daily, I talk to him daily. He’s watched my business grow more than anyone that knows me. From the beginning I told him. “Hey,, I’m starting this little business..yadda yadda”… and he admits freely that when I first started doing what I do, that he was like (in his head) saying, “Oh.. that’s a pretty cool little hobby Erika, but it’ll probably go nowhere.” So then the orders started going out,,,, maybe a couple every other day .. in my mailbox. I’d run out there, put them in the box, throw up the little red flag so that he knew there was something to pick up…….. The months and years went by, and now, he diligently, and like clockwork, stops by everyday. Parks his truck with empty tubs in hand, knowing that I’ll need them for the upcoming days and knocks on my door. Personally hands me my mail, makes sure I have tubs, and asks if I have anything to go out for the day. He’s onto my schedule……… When a couple of days go by that he hasn’t taken anything from me, he gets curious about whats going on in the business. He’s always there to lend an ear when I’m having a bad day. I can’t even count the times that I’ve answered the door with tears in my eyes, screaming children in the background, still in the clothes that I was in two days before, house in disarray……. Patrick is my constant. He sees me everyday, he can tell if I’ve showered, he can tell if I’m in the bitchiest of moods, he can tell if I’ve cleaned my house, my dog Loosha loves him more than anything, he knows all my family (and they all write him messages on the mail that they send me, knowing that he’s going to see the “HI PAT” on the back of the envelope or care package box………. It’s almost as if he really is family. I certainly feel that way ;c) He calls me when he knows he’s going to be early, or late for that matter, as he knows that I sit here and assemble and ship knowing that he’s going to be rolling up between 2 and 4pm everyday. I work around his schedule. And I can’t tell you how many times he’s showed up to pick up my work to ship out, and I’ve got like 5 more orders to assemble and package,, and he will wait for me, stand here in my office and shoot the breeze while I work until I’m finished. He loves playing music, loves all music (which is a common interest between the two of us), and so we talk music, we talk children, we talk about our spouses and the trials and tribulations of marriage (I love his wife, Denise, even tho’ I’ve only met her once), we talk military (for we have both served), we just talk about life. We laugh at the fact that all my neighbors probably think we have something else going on,,,, and the longer he is parked out front, we just KNOW that they all start whispering …… lol….. Even on his days off, or when he takes vacation, he briefs his route replacement on how they have to come to my door to see if there is any outgoing orders…………. the man is a blessing to the United States Postal Service……and he’s a blessing to me,, because he is such a great friend, and he’s a blessing to Mountain Girl Silver, because w/out him and his upstanding and outstanding service, I would have a lot more on my plate having to worry about getting everything down to the post office everyday by 6pm as there is wayyyy too much to shove into my tiny mailbox. He takes care of me…. that’s the bottom line, and when he mentioned a coupla months ago that he was thinking about switching routes,,,,, my stomach got upset and I felt like I was going to puke. There’s no replacing Patrick… I don’t care how stealth of a route carrier you are….. there’s NO replacing my Patrick..
He informed me this afternoon that he’s going to be gone for two weeks on physical rehab for his left shoulder rotator cuff. The repetitive motion of being a mail carrier will inevitably wear your bones and your body down. Fortunately he doesn’t have to have surgery………. But I will miss him, but I know… I KNOW,, that the person replacing him may “try” to walk in his shoes for a couple of weeks,,, but they don’t know how to walk the walk of Patrick……..
I swear,,, when you get home from Disneyland, it literally takes you a week to process the whole trip. Considering we’re Oregonians and it RAINED while we were there (for only 6 hours on Friday),, but STILL. Who likes to be at Disneyland in the friggen rain?? It was a little comical walking around in our sweatshirts watching all the So-Cal-Ers freak out that their boots with the fur were getting soaked, and that it was clearly obvious we were all having bad hair days. ha ha.. But what a great trip. We got to do every ride about 3 or 4 times….. and this year, Maggie was above the 40″ height requirement, so the trip for her was more of a wild ride than in years past. She was hanging onto me for life on Space Mountain….. which I KNEW was a bad idea the minute hubby suggested we all go on it. And we got to eat In N’ Out burger twice while we were there,, and got to hit the Long Beach Aquarium on our last day before heading to the airport. All in all it was a great trip. What a way to spend Valentines Day ;c) It was hard tho’, to know that I was only a mere 4 hours south of all my family…. just a short distance….. and didn’t get to see them. Kids and I are headed to California for Easter this year, which was the only thing that helped me get thru the weekend w/out shedding any tears. 
In this picture you will see… Me in the middle, for I am the middle one. Daneen on the left and Muggs on the right. And here we are, just a hair from the top of Mt. Hood (more than a hair to those whom have hiked to the top), but for us… we WERE on the top of the WORLD.. I have never in my life had such a fantastic weekend. I know a lot of people say stuff like that after they’ve have a great weekend, but I secretly, honestly and truly mean it. We all went skiing on Saturday. Got a sitter for my kids, and me, my hubby, my cousin Sam from Texas, Neen, and Muggs went up to Timberline……… A)… I’m totally in my element on ANY mountain, B) I LOVE skiing, and C) I was with important people in my life………. It was a FEEEEE-NOMMMM-IN-AL day.. So not only was I on top of the world on the mountain, but I was on top of the world in my life….. couldn’t have asked for a better day … or weekend for that matter. Needless to say I didn’t get much work done, and I really should be downstairs stamping right now,,, but I just got back from the airport, and when you leave an airport, you’re either really happy or you’re really sad. Typically that’s how it is. But this time, I was feeling really blessed……. and I just had to get it out…..
You know when you have one of those weekends, where after it is all over, and the moments are gone, you just say to yourself…. “Wow… . that was a great time!!” It is ALWAYS that way when me and my bestest friend Tatum get together. We don’t get to see each other very often, but came to the conclusion this weekend that the flight is a no brainer, so we just have to make more time to come and go see each other. We had a rather blurry night on Friday after she got here. Had a super yummy dinner that night and then somehow ended up dancing over in Oregon City with my other two bestest gals, Naomi and Heather.. Woke up on Saturday morning feeling less than a million bucks,, but we rallied and began our trek to Bend, OR for Brookie’s baby shower (which was totally lovely). That night after the shower, I casted Brooke’s beautiful belly with a belly cast kit. It’s one of those things that I did with both of my pregnancies, and to this day, every time I look at the casts, I think to myself,, “WOW,, I can’t believe my belly and boobs were EVER that big”….. Her cast turned out so nice.. So then the next morning, Brooke’s mom took us out to breakfast at the McKay House there in Bend and then shortly thereafter, we began our trek back over the pass heading home. Tate flew out on Sunday evening (mid super-bowl) and left me feeling so very sad, yet refreshed. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, that Tatum is my breath of fresh air. When we get together after a very long time apart, we pretty much pick right back up where we left off. Laughing happens to be what we do best…… she makes me die laughing and vice versa….. but this time that she was here, she inspired me to get into better shape. One of my new years resolutions was to get into better shape and take better care of myself. But up until she got here, I wasn’t very motivated. By the time she left, she had looked up the pilates schedule over in Oregon City at a studio, gave me the phone number, and pretty much insisted that I do it. Well,,, went to my first session yesterday, and can’t believe that I’m sitting here typing this. My entire core is just wrecked!! No pain No gain right?? But I love me my Tatum, and can’t wait until we get together next time!! This morning I got up and took Maggie to school and then headed over to Heather’s house, as we agreed yesterday while I was dropping off the days stamping, that we were going to walk this morning. So we walked, and talked, and vented, and laughed…… I’m just blessed in my life to have such great friends… I don’t live close to any of my family, so friends have always played a HUGE role in my life. Depending on my friends for just about everything. Don’t get me wrong, my family is there for me when I need them to listen, or would come up here on a flight at the drop of a hat if there was a dire emergency….. but you know what I mean… I just love my friends…… You can pick your nose, and you can pick your friends, and chances are you can pick your friends (a true friend’s) nose….