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L et’s wax nostalgic. Let’s talk about life before e-mail. Anyone remember the old blue aerogrammes? You’d write in tiny letters all over the pre-stamped airmail envelopes; if you were really cheap you’d write on the back flap knowing the mailman would enjoy reading your “private” message as much as your friend would.

Then there were the goofy letters we sent our friends from camp. We’d take a paper plate write in circles all over it fold it in half address stamp and staple it and send out a combination letter-and-origami creation!

They don’t make deliveries like they used to… But although deliveries have changed they can still be special.

Even in our high-tech lives there’s plenty of room for enjoying deliveries. A wedding invitation is a wedding invitation whether it’s opened with a letter opener or at the click of a mouse. Online shopping has made package deliveries an everyday joy. And there’s still the fun of receiving everybody’s favorite home delivery: Mishpacha magazine!

As long as boxes can hold surprises as long as people relate to other people as long as life brings us wondrous and unexpected packages deliveries will continue to be part and parcel (pun intended!) of our lives.

A box that disappears mysteriously a truckload of floor tiles that brings back memories a sandwich stuffed with much more than tuna fish… Join us Sisters as we share some of our most special deliveries with or without gift wrap.

Marcia theorizes about…

The Perfect Crime

My husband’s company is paying for a new computer. He orders online waits a few weeks and gets e-mail notification from FedEx: package delivered and signed for. Huh? Nobody’s home! How could anyone sign?

Sure enough when he gets home… no package.

After days of phone calls and e-mails FedEx finally tracks down the delivery person. He remembers the situation: He’d rung the bell no one answered and he was about to return the package to his truck when a man ran up our driveway. Breathlessly he explained he’d been working in the yard. The delivery man believed him allowed him to scrawl a signature on a form and handed the package to him — without asking for ID.

My husband lets FedEx the computer manufacturer and their insurance companies figure out who’ll pay for a replacement computer. Meanwhile I try to figure out how the thief managed to pull off this cunning heist. As a teen I’d grown up on a literary diet of whodunits — Agatha Christie and Carolyn Keene were my favorites. Now… a chance to use deductive reasoning to solve the crime à la Hercule Poirot Miss Marple and Nancy Drew. Time to put on the Sleuthing Hat. The Great Detective starts reasoning…

Hmmm… Timing is the piece missing from this puzzle: If he was behind the house how did this mastermind (let’s call him Moe) know precisely when to run to the front to claim the package? Aha I’ve got it! An accomplice!

The scenario plays out in my head. The accomplice (let’s call him Larry) follows the truck down the street. He’s on foot as the driver proceeds slowly stopping for deliveries. Maybe Larry’s walking a dog just to make it look convincing.