Do You Suffer From a Phobia?

There are so many different phobias these days, in fact, one for just about everything imaginable. There are phobias such as Acrophobia (fear of heights), Dentophobia (fear of dentists), Technophobia (fear of technology) and Philophobia (fear of phobias). Like millions of other people I, too, suffer from a phobia however, do you know what is worse than having a phobia... having a phobia that is not named! Yes, it's true... I searched the internet and could find nothing on it. Since I can find no tag for my phobia I have named it myself. It is postophobia. Yes, that's right. I suffer from a fear of post offices. Now this should not be confused with the postal carriers because in fact I love my mailman... well, most of the time. It is actually just post offices that I have a fear of. At least I must have because I can never seem to get myself to one to mail packages! Last year I had a package for a BB member who was being hospitalized. Do you know how long that package sat here? Three months! I finally opened it all up and dispersed the contents to other recipients. (BTW, that ill BB member received flowers instead after her treatments were completed.) It happened this summer as well. I would buy tons of stuff to send to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, so much of the stuff sat here either still in their Target bags or in shipping boxes. I did brave the post office a few times to send some out but so much of the stuff just sat. It was sad really.

Well, in July my brother-in-law, "J" was deployed. He spent his first 3 months of deployment in the States before heading for Kosovo. I promised him that I would send him packages and that I had some friends who would love to send him stuff as well. I knew that I could brave the post office - I mean really... this was my BIL! Of course, I would send stuff. Well, from the moment he touched down in Germany, I started shopping. I bought fun stuff, and snacks, DVDs and magazines. And... it sat! Finally, in December, 1 month after "J" arrived in Kosovo, the DH asked if I was ever going to do anything with all the stuff in the Target bags. So we sat and filed up 3.5 boxes of stuff. I taped them up and then... they sat... this time in boxes...but still they sat! Now so I don't sound like quite the heartless sister-in-law, I did mail cards to him and some included ITunes G.C.s but those were easy. I could either give them to the mailman or drop them in the box outside the post office.

Now while I was cowering in fear at the thought of going to the post office, my friends had sent cards and packages to him. One of these even included a cute little Charlie Brown Christmas tree. And what had I sent... well, no packages anyway! So this week, I knew... I just knew that I had procrastinated... errr.. I mean, been afraid for far too long! I needed to suck it up and force myself to the post office. I had made one earlier attempt but had forgotten to bring along "J's" address so even though I made it inside that time, I had had to turn right around and go back out. So on Thursday, I had all 3 of the boxes, a large envelope bound for Canada and 7 letters (one was a belated birthday card, that hadn't been late if only I had found some stamps). I walked inside and thank gawd it wasn't crowded so I couldn't use that as an excuse. I tried to find my "happy spot" as I battled the demons of fear and stood in line. Soon it was my turn at the counter and not a moment too soon.

"J's" packages were first.. well apparently I was too vague on his customs forms. Apparently writing toiletries and snacks was not enough... I need to write what types of these items are in there. So I gave her more detailed info... it didn't really matter as it was all lies anyway. Well, not completely, but really, I bought the stuff over 2 months ago and packaged it last month. How was I supposed to remember details. Well, except for the one smaller box that contained bottles of Lemonade Vitamin Water - liquid, a definite "no-no" in shipping. However, this little bit of info I figured they didn't really need. Next up was my envie to Canada... apparently that needed a customs form too... imagine that! However, at that point the postal clerk started making additions and adjustments to my parcel. Now it wasn't as if I wasn't already trembling, trying to reign control over my fear but after having been reprimanded (okay, maybe it was more of an informative telling) and then she pulls out her big red marker (umm... black pen) and starts making corrections (BTW, did you know that Canada post (or was it customs?) prefers all CAPS when addressing their envelopes?. I managed to get thru it, bought some stamps as well and had all packages, envelopes and cards taking from me and sent on their way. I then raced out of there as if the hounds of hell were biting at my heels. But I had done it! I had braved the post office and finally, yes, FINALLY! mailed off packages to "J".

So until my phobia is recognized I must continue to be brave and tough it out... or really just get off my lazy ass and get to the post office sooner!