The Joke was on me

Mystery packages thrill me

I grew up in a rural area where our mail came to the post office which was about 2 and 1/2 blocks from our home. A few neighbors had actual mail boxes on the side of the road but most of us poor black and white folk used the post office. I loved walking there each day on behalf of my grandmother and peering through the small glass window of box number 64. I would turn the combination dial and the little glass door would open and I would get to take out whatever was inside.

This seemed so magical to me but there was something that was even better. I loved when there was a little card inside announcing that some mysterious package was too large for the box. I would take the card to the window and present it to the postmaster or his wife and wait expectantly to be given whatever it was.

Curiosity would get the better of me and I could hardly contain myself on the walk home. I loved getting surprise packages even if they were not for me and were for other members of my family. Still today as an adult I enjoy getting items from the mailbox, or something sitting on my porch from Amazon or through UPS or FedEx.

In recent years I haveBlue been fascinated with drones and enjoy watching my grandson fly his in the park. I began to wonder what it would be like to see a drone flying over my home and drop a package at my front door and one day I found out.

Curiosity is a powerful emotion

I was getting the mail one morning and saw something in the sky and my mind went back to watching Lost in Space during the 1960s and wishing I had a flying jet pack. I kept watching and could tell it was a drone and just as I was about to enter my house I realized it was coming towards me. I was so excited I could not believe it was true. I was overjoyed to have this first encounter with new technology and wondered what was coming my way.

I thought perhaps my husband had ordered a gift to surprise me for my birthday or had purchased himself a new suit and some shoes. Maybe one of our threee children had bought something for themselves and had it delivered to our house because they knew we were home during the day. The package landed and I marveled at this man made contraption that could be programmed and so precise.

I eagerly went to the front steps to obtain what had been sent my way. This new method of delivery was history in the making and I was a part of it. Here I was a grandmother as excited as I had been as a 10 year old girl peering through the post office box.

I opened Pandora’s box

My heart was pounding as I held the package that was neatly wrapped and had my name on it. Yippie it was for me and when I saw the return address was New York City I jumped for joy. The hospice center where my father was living when he passed away had promised to send me his personal effects and now they were here. O had been told my dad had several gold neckalaces, rings and watches and I was so happy to have something that actually belonged to him.

The package was quite heavy and felt to be about 3 or 4 pounds. I’m thinking my dad had more belonging than I realized and I was thinking of giving some of his jewelry to my brother and my sons as keepsakes.

I went in the house and tore the paper off and it revealed a square cardboard box. My grandma who was living with us was sitting in her chair near the dining room table and I told her my father’s jewelry had finally arrived. I asked if she wanted to do the honors and she reachec up to take the box from me. She commented on how heavy it was as she lifted the lid. She pulled up what looked like clear plastic and I assumed the jewelry was wrapped on it. As she lifted the plastic she let out a scream and e the heavy box on the floor.

Do my eyes deceive me?

I looked down and realized why she had yelled because the package was not fiflled with my fathers belongings. There were no watches, really ings, or necklaces as I had been promised and the contents of what the drone dropped was not even from the hospice center. I reached down and picked the box up examined the contents, and quickly closed the lid. I appologized to my grandma and took the box outside and placed it in the crawl space of the house. I was so shaken in that moment because what I had just placed underneath the house were my father's ashes. My grandma like me expected treasures but was startled instead.

We had my father cremated and I forgot his remains were going to be mailed to me by the New York funeal home but here they were. The drone had dropped all that was left of a man who had once been six foot two and 170lbs and now he was reduced to a 3 or 4 pound box of ashes. The reality sent shivers down my spine and later I placed my fathers remains in the trunk of my car and my intention was to spread them equally over his mother and father’s graves at the cemetery but I never got the chance.

A most haunting memory

Caring for my grandmother was draining and self care was not emphasized in the early 2000s. One day my car stopped running and I did not have money for a new engine so I sold my vehicle for junk. I actually forgot my fathers ashes were inside the trunk and by the time I remembered it was too late and I was also very embarrassed to admit this truth to anyone.

To this day I wonder where my dad’s remains ended up and if anyone at the junk yard had been curious and examined the contents of the trunk or the box but I’ll never know as I was too ashamed to ask. Every time I see a drone I have an anxiety attack and can’t help but wonder if someone’s remains are being dropped off and reflect on my own misfortune. I was expecting something wonderful in my mystery package and why not as in the past I was always delighted but instead this time I got the shock of my life.