January is Christmas card time here in Baku. Since nobody reads (or has access to) the regulations about mail sent around Christmas time, they all missed the note about getting all mail to the pouch address by Thanksgiving in order to have it here for Christmas. Even LDS magazines missed the memo; just last week we got December and January Friends. The girls were very excited.
So thanks to the holiday bottleneck, we're just getting everyone's (well all five of your) cards which we are enjoying very much.
This evening Brandon pulled out a stack of mail. I'm not sure where he's been hiding it since Friday, but suddenly it appeared on the kitchen table after the children had been sent upstairs to get ready for bed.
I thumbed through one half while he thumbed through the other. Usually I don't use all of those coupons Banana Republic send me, but someone should tell them that even if I wanted to, I couldn't. Because last time I checked January 3-7 was last week. I'm glad that they made it all of the way to Baku so that I could wonder if maybe there was something that I wanted to buy with that thirty percent off coupon.
Brandon held up an envelope with our address and Brandon's first and last name on it and handed it to me. I looked at the address on the back as Brandon asked if I knew these people, the Starlings. Maybe?
I opened it.
The pictures were kind of small, and dogs do have a tendency to look fairly similar to each other, so I flipped the card over. Maybe I do know them.
Last time I checked Brandon was not married to anyone named Anna (although at least they got in the right alphabet family), and we definitely do not have any plans to retire in Romania. Ever.
Brandon and I laughed as we imagined what the odds would be that there was another George Sherwood who had been assigned to Baku at one point. Sometimes the FS world becomes very small and oddly convoluted.
So, Mr. Sherwood, I just wanted to pass the news along about your friends. Looks like they're doing well. The dogs look nice and healthy. And if you'd like the Starling's new address, just drop me a line and I'll send it along.