grace.kindness.peace.disruption.pain.processing.rinse.repeat.have a nice day.

I want to say thanks to some friend and family who recently sent care packages over to me and my team here. Would Mom & Dad Prentice, Grammy, Natalie Moore, Melinda Coomer, Pam Roberts, Tim Tang, Tim Miller, Tracy Toumi, Brian Jennings, Roderick Johnson, Ashhar Madni and anyone else that was involved in sending the chocolate, candy, notes, pictures, toys, pens, and other goodies please stand up to be recognized? Thank you all so very much for your generosity and willingness to send packages that you weren't sure would even get to their recipient!

The trip to the post office to pick up my bounty was an adventure in itself. The package carrying unmentionables from my parents weighed a bit much (or maybe it just appeared thick enough) to go through customs. A post office employee collected the package and opened it before the customs officer and what appeared to be his girlfriend in a small room. I signed for it and prepared to leave behind the employee when the customs officier called me back. He explained that he had graciously let me leave without paying a duty for my package, seeing as the contents were not very valuable (undergarments — oops, mentioned the unmentionable — and bandannas). The humorous part of this is that there is no duty required on any package – he simply wanted to prepare me to give him a bribe the next time. Coincidentally, he is the only overweight person that works in that part of the post office. Apparently he receives "duties" on a lot of packages!