James has been in Germany almost an entire month. We just started shipping his stuff to him yesterday.
He has lots of computer stuff. I mean, lots. A big, fancy computer case with fancy computer parts in it. A nice, fancy computer monitor. A way-cool "mouse". A really nice drawing tablet (like the ones professional artists use). A surround-sound speaker system.
This computer setup is so fancy that he didn't want his old man to help put it together. Because the old man is so old, he probably wouldn't understand how these things work. You know, all those bits and bytes and RAMs and CPUs.
(It is a fact of life that every young man considers his father either a genius or an idiot. My father is a genius who taught me everything there is to know about carpentry and automobiles, although it didn't sink in and take hold until I was much older. I am, apparently, an idiot.)
Worse than that, I can't even pack a box.
Luckily for James, he is the son of one of the world's premiere box-packers. His mother has the most amazing ability to pack everything in the world into the tiniest of spaces. She's a puzzle-master! Not only that, she did her research and became the Master of Shipping. All I had to do (and it is one of the things I do best!) was to carry the boxes to the car, and then from the car to the Post Office. Without destroying my back. Because those boxes were heavy.
Well, actually, there was something else that I did. I typed up an Inventory Form for each box with a list of everything that we packed into each box so that he could check the contents on the other side to make sure it all got there. I'm a little paranoid about someone rifling through it and deciding that they want to keep something as a memento.
So we crammed all his computer equipment and quite a few other items into three huge boxes -- they wouldn't fit into anything smaller! -- and took them over to the Post Office and filled out the Customs forms and paid the postage and suddenly, they were gone. Just like James when he disappeared on the other side of the Security gate. Vanished. On the way to Germany.
It'll take a while before he actually gets the boxes. Something like six to ten business days. All that stuff has to be examined by Customs. I hope none of those people have sticky fingers! It would make me very angry to have spent all that time and money getting all that computer equipment packed up and inventoried and shipped off, only to have some Lightfinger Larry take a bit off the top.
I hope he has fun putting it together.
Without his old man asking him, "Hey, what's this thing for?"
He has lots of computer stuff. I mean, lots. A big, fancy computer case with fancy computer parts in it. A nice, fancy computer monitor. A way-cool "mouse". A really nice drawing tablet (like the ones professional artists use). A surround-sound speaker system.
This computer setup is so fancy that he didn't want his old man to help put it together. Because the old man is so old, he probably wouldn't understand how these things work. You know, all those bits and bytes and RAMs and CPUs.
(It is a fact of life that every young man considers his father either a genius or an idiot. My father is a genius who taught me everything there is to know about carpentry and automobiles, although it didn't sink in and take hold until I was much older. I am, apparently, an idiot.)
Worse than that, I can't even pack a box.
Luckily for James, he is the son of one of the world's premiere box-packers. His mother has the most amazing ability to pack everything in the world into the tiniest of spaces. She's a puzzle-master! Not only that, she did her research and became the Master of Shipping. All I had to do (and it is one of the things I do best!) was to carry the boxes to the car, and then from the car to the Post Office. Without destroying my back. Because those boxes were heavy.
Well, actually, there was something else that I did. I typed up an Inventory Form for each box with a list of everything that we packed into each box so that he could check the contents on the other side to make sure it all got there. I'm a little paranoid about someone rifling through it and deciding that they want to keep something as a memento.
So we crammed all his computer equipment and quite a few other items into three huge boxes -- they wouldn't fit into anything smaller! -- and took them over to the Post Office and filled out the Customs forms and paid the postage and suddenly, they were gone. Just like James when he disappeared on the other side of the Security gate. Vanished. On the way to Germany.
It'll take a while before he actually gets the boxes. Something like six to ten business days. All that stuff has to be examined by Customs. I hope none of those people have sticky fingers! It would make me very angry to have spent all that time and money getting all that computer equipment packed up and inventoried and shipped off, only to have some Lightfinger Larry take a bit off the top.
I hope he has fun putting it together.
Without his old man asking him, "Hey, what's this thing for?"
1 comment:
The sacrifices some parents make for their children... giving them freedom and independence, whether you're ready or not to let go of them. I guess you considered holding the computer stuff hostage to make sure he doesn't live out the rest of his life in Deutschland... but you packed them up anyway. Way to go, Mom and Dad!
We've enjoyed having Braelyn's cats as a means of seeing her once in a while. Next year we won't be so lucky-- although she may bring them home on holidays sometimes to visit their fur siblings.
As a parent who scours twitter and facebook for news of her in-town children, and lives for the occasional text from them, I raise my hat to you. Handing them back to God (as if he ever let go of them) is a huge faith walk.
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