The Infamous FedEx Package

The plans were to just hang around the house today. Angie was making pies to take to the neighbors and the kids and I were just bouncing off the walls like normal kids do on the day before Christmas. At about 11:00AM, Angie got a phone call informing her that she had received a package at FedEx on the main island. We were not expecting any packages but thought whoever sent it, must have wanted us to have it before Christmas. Since the sender had taken such care to ensure the package would get to us before Christmas, we certainly had the obligation to make the journey to the main island to retrieve it. Since I can only take one kid on my motorcycle, we put the names in a cup and Kyndal’s name was drawn as the lucky passenger for the island excursion. We rode the cycle to the ferry, boarded the boat bound for the main island began our quest for the infamous FedEx package. Angie had asked us to pick up some more red apples for the pies if we could find any. We shopped three different shops and finally found some partially red apples. We then proceeded to the FedEx place. If you have never been to the main island, you cant imagine what traffic is like. The lines in the roads don’t mean anything. There are only a few stop lights and when people do stop, all the cycles crowd in together like the start of a race. Its really crazy and sometimes scary. If you can imagine what it looks like when you kick an ant hill, you can picture traffic on the main island. Anyway, we bobbed and weaved our way around and then it was time to find a parking spot…. always a chore. I found a spot, but it wasn’t quite wide enough for my cycle. I had Kyndal get off and wait by the sidewalk while I pushed the cycle back to a wider spot. This is where things start to fall…. literally. Cycle parking is along the street. They park the cycles so close to each other that it is really difficult to climb off the cycle after squeezing into the tiny space. The island is only 3.5 sq. miles…. what choice do we have? Anyway, as I pushed the cycle back, I bumped a cycle that was sticking out into the road. So if you want to know if parked cycles will fall like dominoes, let me tell you they do. Kyndal watched from the sidewalk with her hand over her mouth. I felt like I was lost in a Mr Bean movie. The locals across the street jumped to my rescue. The islanders picked up the cycles and assured me everything was going to be ok. They must have seen my “everything is not ok” look on my face. I’m sure you could see my heart beating right through my t-shirt. I parked the cycle and went in to pick up our highly anticipated FedEx package. Who could have sent it to us? What is in the package? How big is it? Oh, the excitement. Since the package was addressed to Angie and they called her number, it must be from one of her friends…. the family would send it in my name. Oh, what could it be? Kyndal and I signed for the package. I had an advantage over Kyndal, because I knew to look at the return address. She needed the package opened to find out who was so clever to send us a package to arrive on Christmas Eve. So, do you want to know who was so clever? It was Emirates Airlines. Angie is now a Skywards Silver Member. Her new luggage tags had arrived. Ha ha. Wasn’t it nice of Emirates to make sure Angie received the new luggage tags before Christmas?

Our Christmas time has been different this year, but certainly fun. We have avoided listening to the Christmas carol, “I’ll be home for Christmas” and have focused on all the good friends and relationships we have on our island. What a great time of year it is to be generous and to share kindness and love with all people. We have really enjoyed being in the islands during our holidays. Tonight I went jogging with some friends and just before dinner, a family came over and brought us some ice cream as a Christmas gift. They taught their little boy to say Merry Christmas. After dinner we watched The Nativity Story with another family. We read the real Christmas story together as a family and took apple pies to the neighbors on both sides of our flat. We can certainly say that the Christmas cheer radiates from the piece of land we occupy on the island. I hope your Christmas has been as merry as ours.