Frustrated with the USPS

October 29th, 6 weeks ago, I mailed a package to Chelsea in a Priority Mail box.  I was told when I picked the box up from the post office that it would only take a few days to arrive at its destination.  6 weeks is not a few days.

I mailed a picture frame with pictures of Chelsea and I inside and a card.  Unfortunately the glass was broken when Chelsea received the package yesterday.  Not the end of the world considering I thought she was never going to receive the package at all.  And other than that the contents were in good condition.

I tried to register a complaint with USPS last night but wouldn't you know it their site was slower than molasses/not working.  Thankfully I was able to register my complaint with them this morning.

Lucky for them they've already responded via email and are looking for additional information to help them research why my package took so long to arrive at its destination.  Once Chelsea is home from work she's going to provide me with the tracking number (internal since I didn't purchase any myself) and then I will be able to respond to them and hopefully get the ball rolling on figuring out what happened.

If only that package could talk...

Have you ever had problems with the USPS?

I'll See You When I See You...

It's been just about a month since my best friend moved from Wisconsin to Maryland with her husband Dan so I thought it would be a good time to reflect on our friendship.

During the Spring semester of the 2010-2011 school year I first became aware of Chelsea when I had a math class with her.  But she had her best friend Alie in the class with her so we never really talked.  I also had an accounting class with her but we sat on opposite sides of the room and never talked.  I decided to request her as a friend on Facebook, which she accepted.

It was in the Fall semester of the 2011-2012 school year that we actually started talking when we were in the same class for our business program.  We were bonding over missing a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game over Facebook before the first class and decided to sit by each other.  We've been pretty much inseparable since.

We had our first date as we like to call it at Buffalo Wild Wings after class one evening and we had a pretty serious discussion about a situation in her life at the time.  I found this kind of surprising considering we had only been hanging out during class prior to this.  But I went with it and decided maybe I wasn't crazy for feeling so comfortable with her and wanting to just tell her everything and anything.  Sometimes when you know, you just know.

Her boyfriend Dan, a Marine, came home for leave for Christmas and actually proposed on Christmas Eve.  I was one of the first calls she made to share the news.

Surprisingly, Chelsea asked (well told me was more like it ;) ) that I be one of her bridesmaids in her wedding.

We were able to finish the 2011-2012 school year with the same classes so we were together a lot for school but we also were getting together outside of school quite a bit.

I set it up with her fiance Dan before he had to leave again that we would go to see Brantley Gilbert and Eric Church in Madison on January 26th as his birthday gift to her.  He sadly had to go back to Japan and would not be able to go with her so he hired me to stand in.  

Waiting for the concert to start!

I took her out on her 22nd birthday to Chica Night (2-for-1 for the ladies) at a bar called Chicos.  The very next day we were going wedding dress shopping and let's just say that Ms. Chelsea was not feeling very well following a rough ride home with her friend Alie.  Let's just say Chelsea had her mom's car and felt the need to offer to wash it for her mom.  We also were going out on Friday nights frequently   Basically, like I said earlier we were inseparable.  If she was there more than likely so was I.

Chelsea & I @ Homestead

It also seemed as though we were best friends for a lot longer than a few short months.  We shared the same thoughts about a lot of things and one of us would say something and the other would say "I was just thinking that too!"

We were together a lot throughout the summer.  I went to multiple softball tournaments with Chelsea, some out of town weekend trips.  We made a lot of memories together.

Chelsea & Amy collage :)

Or as Jason Aldean sings, "we laid a lot of memories, like tattoos on this town!"

Then it came time to hand her off to her husband Dan.  I had a blast at her wedding at the end of September.

The bride & the bridesmaids

Not even two weeks later we were having our one last big outing together with Dan and my friend Tammy in tow to see Kip Moore, Justin Moore, and Eric Church in Green Bay.  But that story is for another time.

It was exactly a week later that Chelsea and Dan began their cross country road trip to their new home in Maryland (where Dan is now stationed).  The year flew by and it felt like we had been friends forever.  We keep in touch on a daily basis through text messaging and now that I have an iPhone Facetime.  The miles that separate us do not mean anything because we both are looking forward to many years to come of being each others best friend!

I'll end this post with the lyrics to another Jason Aldean song that I used as my status the day Chelsea left for Maryland and the part of the song I posted to her wall.

"Let's don't say goodbye I hate the way it sounds so if you don't mind let's just say for now see you when I see you another place some other time if I ever get down your way or you're up around mine we'll laugh about the old days and catch up on the new yeah I'll see you when I see you and I hope it's some day soon!"

"I'll see you when I see you Till then my prayers are with you And I hope it's some day soon..."

Questions for you
Have you ever had a best friend move a long distance from you?  How did you handle it?
Do you use music to express how you feel? Sometimes I just feel that lyrics to a song can perfectly describe how I am feeling better than any attempt at words that I could make.