Overdue Update

Looks like over a month has slipped by since I last blogged. Ooops! I haven't really had many resurfacing childhood memories to document, nor has anything earth-shattering happened to me in the present day.

Just over a week ago, I did attend the TransForm Arizona conference in Phoenix, where I reconnected with several old friends, met many others I'd only ever encountered online before, and made even more new friends! Here's a picture of me on the steps to the church where the conference took place - I wish I'd taken more pictures with (and of) other people, but that's what next year's for, right? It was an amazing weekend - even the relatively short road trip there and back was fun!

I do want to mention our hosts who put us up in their lovely home for two nights, and were very patient in exchanging life stories during late night and early morning conversations. Paul is an extremely sweet and dedicated minister with West Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, and his fiancée Victoria is a fascinating and wise woman with whom I discovered much commonality in our experiences and our representation of the 'B' population.

A couple of weeks prior to the conference, I'd had my eyes tested for the first time in over two years, and although my distance vision had only changed slightly, my near vision had altered radically and my existing bifocals were almost useless for anything closer than about six feet. I had hoped to get new glasses before the trip to Phoenix but they were still "in transit" by the time we left on Friday. I was excited to see the USPS web site showed them as having been delivered to my place of employment on Saturday, and eagerly looked forward to wearing them when I returned to work the next week.

Imagine my surprise and puzzlement when there was no sign of a package on my desk, in my mail slot, or anywhere else for that matter. Our HR Admin Assistant Stephanie went above and beyond the call of duty for me in doing detective work and contacting the Post Office to find out why the package had been scanned as delivered by the Delivery Confirmation system, and yet was not there when she went through the mailbag from Saturday - or any subsequent mailbags, for that matter. She did receive an email from a supervisor at our delivery office, explaining that we were "the only customer where mail is scanned before being placed in the bag for delivery". So in fact, in our unique case "Delivered" doesn't actually mean what you might think it means. The person who delivered the mail that day had no recollection of that particular package, and Stephanie was sure nothing had arrived with my name on it.

Fast forward to today - ten days after the final scanning by the post office. I had given up all hope, as the manufacturer disclaimed responsibility once the delivery had been *cough*cough* confirmed. My phone rings, and Stephanie tells me there's a package for me! I could scarcely believe it. There was no clue as to where it had been for the last week and a half, but somehow it found its way to the final destination. And now I can see again!

Othr than that, life has been fairly humdrum. I've been alternating periods of social activity with a hermit-like existence, which has worked for my emotional needs and limited financial resources so far. I need to get back on my diet in a serious way, however - this "eat whatever you feel like whenever you feel like it and call it comfort food" is not healthy for me, I can tell.

I can only hope that the need for comfort food won't be so pressing in the future.