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Hawn: Getting cards to children was adventure

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It began last April 14, the day before the original property tax filing deadline.

Glancing at rows of greeting cards at Bob’s Variety Store, it suddenly occurred to me that it also was the day before the identical triplets would celebrate their fourth birthday. I had never failed to get their card and checks to my great-grandsons — Samuel, Titus and Silas — on time. I didn’t intend to be late. I bought an 8X15-inch card, phoned my home for the boys’ address, stepped to the postal counter at the rear of the store. I purchased a money order for $75 plus the small fee.

“I want to send this overnight,” I told Chanelle, the postal lady.

“You will have to mail this from the post office,” she replied. “We can’t send overnight deliveries from here.”

I handed the addressed card and money order with my return label to Susan, the lady at the Sun City West post office, requesting overnight delivery. She said it would cost $30. Really? Oh well, I inserted my credit card and left. Tracking confirmed the card and money order had been delivered to the Flower Mound, Texas, address on time — April 15.

End of story? Actually, more like the beginning. A week or so later without a “thank-you” call from my granddaughter, I learned the card and money order never got to the triplets. Since it was guaranteed up to $100, I began my investigation by visiting Susan again. I filled out and mailed a form to the St. Louis office of the U.S. Postal Service. I also got the Flower Mound post office number. A nice young woman named Elizabeth contacted the carrier who told her he had left the card at a rural box with the same address as the one I had written on the card.

Susan, now deeply involved with all of this, again filled out that same form and made copies of all that was required. Meanwhile, a month after the triplets’ fourth birthday, I mailed them a second 8X15-inch card and a check this time for another $75 to the correct Texas address located about an hour’s drive from Flower Mound.

Despite what seemed a thorough investigation for the missing card, the mystery of its disappearance was never solved. Surprisingly, on June 20, I received a check dated June 17 from the U.S. Postal Service in the amount of $75.

I didn’t mind, my total expense was more than double. I’m pleased to know that the United States government doesn’t spend taxpayers’ money frivolously — and I made a new friend at the Sun City West post office.

Jack Hawn

Sun City West