Grandma's Birthday Card

I mailed a birthday card to Grandma last Friday so was pretty confident that it would reach Sheet Harbour for her birthday, which, as we all know, was yesterday. To my surprise, Canada Post deemed my modest card and envelope to be 'oversized'. It took some time, but yesterday -- on the very day I was hoping the card would be opened and read by Grandma -- it arrived back in our mailbox marked 'insufficient postage'.

Mathieu had retrieved the mail and gently broke the news. He has a great way of introducing minor problems as major disasters so that when he eventually comes to the facts of the situation, all I feel is a tremendous sense of relief.

Our friends at Canada Post had decided that I should pay 58 cents to send my apparently misshapen card and envelope. I'm sure it wasn't personal and that the figure resuted from an elaborate and standard calculation. It seems I'd tried to cheat Canada Post of 5 cents, though I can't be sure from the sheet of stamps we bought last week. They have a trademarked 'permanent' designation, which "provides great value since [they] will be honoured at the Canadian domestic basic letter rate regardless of stamp rate increases". This also means that there's no number on the stamps, no reminder of the Canadian domestic basic letter rate for 'standard' sized letters, something I find a little unsettling.

I considered the envelope for some time, wondering how to proceed. Should I start from scratch and stick (no more licking!) two fresh and precious sticker-stamps on the envelope? Or should I assume that I still had rights to the original stamp and add just one? Mathieu wasn't sure either. I was feeling a bit rebellious and may have acted rashly -- I decided not to be wastfeul and stuck just one more stamp on the envelope. I was working at the computer and Mathieu very kindly offered to take the envelope down to the mailbox across the street. I won't be too surprised if it turns out not to be the last time that envelope and I cross paths...

Knowing that Grandma wouldn't get her card until some time next week and still wanting to be an honourable grandaughter, I called her this morning to wish her a belated Happy Birthday. As it turns out, several family members had beaten me to it. She said she received a number of cards and phone calls yesterday, including a call from her grandson in Waterloo, which obviously made her very happy. She's also looking forward to hosting some notable visitors tomorrow. You aren't likely to be her most prominent houseguests of 2007, mom and dad, but I think she's looking forward to your visit. Drive safely.