It has been an insane 2 weeks. On one hand I feel like Brandon has been gone FOREVER, yet I look back and think, wow its been 2 weeks already! I am a walking contradiction these days :) So my drama with on Wednesday was just the tip of the ice burg! So I am officially pissed at UPS as a whole, and want to scream at the driver in San Antonio. On Wednesday night I rushed to UPS and over nighted (for $30) the papers Brandon needed. I was given a tracking number, but in my faith of UPS I waited till Sunday to check the tracking number to be sure he got the letter by Friday morning. I get on the site only to learn that my delivery date has been reschedules (for no reason) to today...5 days after I sent it. Plus did I mention that if Brandon didn't get this before Monday I had to wait even longer to get insurance (at least another week!). I was in tears I was so mad, fyi I cry when I am sad, mad, happy, and all the above. So as soon as they opened I was on the phone trying to find out what was going on. The guy I spoke with said he didn't know but would call back after contacting the shipping office. He calls 4 hours later to say "sorry we do not know why it didn't get to him, and we have no idea where it is. Maybe 1 in 1000 shipments get lost, and it seems you were that 1!" SERIOUSLY...SERIOUSLY I can't catch a break. He then told me that they would refund my money...ummm DUH. I asked how long it would take to straighten out his respones "usually it takes about 8 days" Yeah I do not have 8 days to wait on this, so I asked if I could just re-send the info for free and call it even. He said "sorry we don't do that, but you can pay the full price and send it again, and get a refund for the original letter after the 8 day processing time. OK so up until now I was nice and I continued to TRY to be nice I said "Well that does not work for me, I want to talk to a manager right now!" he then informed me that the manager had just had a baby this weekend and would not be in for at least another week! Now I was just pissed and let him know it, here was my response which I felt was very nice considering everything "OK look I know this is not your fault sir, and I am sorry you are stuck taking this call from me, but this is not ok, and I want to talk to someone above you and I want to do it now, because of your companies mistake, I now don't have insurance, and can't sign up for at least another week. Also since my husband is in basic training at the moment I cant even explain what happened, so he has no idea why he hasn't gotten that document!" OK so I told him more than he cared to hear, but I am meeting the owner of that UPS Store at 9:30am tomorrow morning and am going to make something happen right away!

So that was the crappy part of the day. Then at 5:15 my phone rang and it was a restricted number, which I could only assume was Brandon. It was!!!!!! I was so freaking excited until he said "Laura don't get to excited this is not a personal call and I can't talk" hmmm I am starting to see a pattern in the calls allowed. Oh well at least I got to hear his voice for 4 minutes and 41 seconds! He was calling to find out what the heck was going on and why had he not got the papers. I quickly told him the short version of it, and he said to re-send it and get it to him by Friday and he would sign me up for insurance next Monday! I tried to ask a few questions and was told he could not answer it. I did ask when he would get to make a personal call, and he said he didn't know when or if (big fat bummer), but that I should be getting my first letter soon, it would be short he warned me. He also had to ask me what day it was because he had lost track already! Poor guy :(

When I got home I hurried to the mailbox, as fast as I could without looking like a total wierdo! Guess what, I had a letter from Brandon. He was not joking about it being short, it was only about a quarter of a page, they were only allowed a couple minutes to write home! Basically he said that it was crazy down there, the most stressful environment he has ever been in, and he can't wait to be done so he can have more than 5 minutes to eat, and more than 5 minutes to shower, shave, and get dressed! OK now here is my thought on the 5 minutes to shower, shave and dress...there is no way they can totally get clean, and they are working out in San Antonio in 100 plus temps, that can not be a good smelling bunch! Even with all the work and stress he says he is doing good, he has no idea when he can write or call again...and the last few lines are for me only! Sorry folks but you probably wouldn't want to hear it anyways!

Keep us both in your prayers and pray for continued communication opportunities, for the whole insurance fiasco to get straightened out, and for tomorrow to go well with UPS :)