Chores!

[Previous Rural Farmgirl, April 2009 – May 2010]
Chores
Why is getting to the post office such a chore? I hate it. I would rather do almost any other chore then go to the post office. I would rather do the dishes, mop the floor, and even scrub the toilets before making my way to that building. The one thing that I miss the most about working in a downtown office is being able to put the envelope in the outgoing mail bin and knowing it would magically leave. Poof, gone. I loved that!
It isn’t that I don’t like the people there—I do. We have the nicest folks that work in our local post office. They are fun, funny, and witty. And I always seem to run into someone from the community that I haven’t seen in awhile and have a lovely conversation that enriches my day. The building itself is quite lovely and historical, too. I rarely have to wait in line for too long. So what is the deal?


I would like to say that this is a new phenomenon to me, but it really isn’t. As a teenager I would leave un-mailed letters lying around, and it would frustrate my mom to her wit’s end. I can still hear her asking, “Why take the time to write them, if you aren’t going to mail them?”
In my defense, I never thought I wouldn’t mail them, I just simply didn’t. While I probably should have taken the time back then to delve into the mystery of it all, at 46 I am doubtful that I will spend a lot of time worrying about the “whys” of it now—I am okay with the fact that “it just is.”
I have often joked that email was created just for me. While I know friends and loved ones that have a disdain for emails, I love them. You can write your feelings down and push send…poof, gone! Although, there has been more than one occasion when I wish that I could get that sent email back. The scene from the TV show “The New Adventures of Old Christine” when Julia Louis Dryfus’ character accidentally pushes send and then tries to unplug the computer to stop the message from going through is forever etched in my mind.
I realize that my avoidance of the post office is a bit ironic, since I love hand-written letters. I love writing them. I love making homemade cards, and I love hand delivering them. I love connecting with other people, and to my knowledge nothing tragic ever happened to me at the hand of the local post office. So people should know that when I offer to snail mail something to them, it is the greatest act of love that I can muster.
I, too, think it is odd that I have such an issue going to the post office, since there really isn’t any better example of community. It’s a Rockwell painting in action. But as you are discovering, things in my world don’t always make sense, and the older that I get, the more okay with all of that I tend to be. I am a little worried, however, that the older I get the more like the cartoon character Maxine I become, which may be a good reason for me to not go out in public all that often.
But there you have it, my least favorite chore. It leads me to wonder what your least favorite chore might be.

  1. Noeletta says:

    Rene’, One of my least favorite chores is sorting socks! I hate it. I fill a basket full and run out of matched socks before I have to do it. It is not a hard task, you could say it is even mindless work. However, I don’t like to do it.

    Keep up the good work.
    Noeletta

    Ha-ha.. I got rid of that chore a while back, by only buying one style for the boys all white.. they all match.

    My mom use to make us saftey pin ours together before they hit the laundry basket…. Brilliant!

  2. Gary says:

    Good Bloggie Rene’…
    We all have our least favorite chore ‘eh…mine is "dusting"… grrr arrgh… yet I do it regularly, because I cannot stand it if I "know" my Home isn’t clean… never mind no-one else can see it. Oh dear, we do grow up to be our Parents don’t we.
    As for the Post, you are right, and I found a little contract Post Office at the nearby College, so I rented a box there. It’s very handy, because contract P.O’s can accept UPS and FedEx, and nooo junk mail, so I walk there once a week and collect all the mail. It’s a nice 3 mile walk, and my life just isn’t complicated enough to need my mail daily.
    I really like your Bloggies, because they’re about Life, and we all share it, or sometimes just bear it.
    GodSpeed to Y’all…!
    Gary
    in Tampa

  3. carol branum says:

    hi rene,i have a few, cleaning the barn, cleaning the kitty litter box are a couple of my worst,i also love getting hand wirtten letters,and recieving them, i always try to include a couple of different tea bags,to make it even more special.,oh my friend kelly are on out way out to daddys coz kelly wants some manure for her garden,she is making garden tea in a hudge barrel,should be intresting coz kellys a city girl.blessed be carol branum,the mo farmers daughter lamar mo

  4. carolyn johnson says:

    I will drive around for *months* with boxes or envelopes on my carseat– I haaate the post office. Every time I walk out of there, relieved, I think "what was so bad about that?? why do I build it up in my mind to be so terrible?"
    I don’t mind cleaning toilet bowls–there’s a special brush, there’s a toxic cleaner–but cleaning the outside of the bowl is awful especially if you have 3 little boys and a husband. I am silently cursing them in my mind which is not a good feeling. I am such a germaphobe that I can’t bear the thought of my boys cleaning it up–at least I know I get everything clean. Oh, I also hate cleaning the fridge which is on The List for today. I don’t let it get nasty but I still hate it, I feel like gagging.
    Thanks for letting me vent! 🙂

    Hahah!  The word "chore" seems to lend itself to venting 🙂 Happy cleaning!

  5. Linda says:

    I’m no fan of the post office, I can assure you, but our local ones have a self-serve kiosk for weighing and mailing, so I use that. Saves me the "pain"!!
    What do I hate doing? DUSTING. The rest of it I can cope with, or actually like!

  6. Janettekle says:

    Good day!
    I would like to present interesting site:
    abilify effects abilify apotheke adderall discount adderall nextday allegra online allegra prices chantix buy chantix fedex claritin overnight claritin drug cymbalta apotheke cymbalta prix femara toronto femara discount fioricet oral fioricet doctor hoodia apotheke hoodia rezept levaquin drug levaquin generic nexium espana nexium prix norvasc cheap norvasc doctor percocet generic percocet canada prilosec suppliers prilosec doctor propecia online propecia tablets provigil uk provigil prescription prozac sale prozac buy seroquel apotheke seroquel doctor singulair overnight singulair drug trazodone online trazodone cheap
    Thank you!
    See you!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *