Poetry Friday: Doubly Puzzled by Donna!

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It’s Poetry Friday! Carol is inviting everyone to her corner for this week’s celebration.

As I hinted in my post last week, I have lots of fun to share this week.

First, the poem I received from Donna Smith of the blog Mainely Write. What a treat!

Donna examined my blog and then crafted the poem “Core.” It captures the many facets of my life perfectly.

"Core" by Donna Smith
“Core” by Donna Smith

Then she made me a bee-shaped word cloud at tagxedo.com! SQUEEEEE! When I saw it, as folks say here in the South, “I like to fell out.”

donna_smith_bee

But that’s not all. It’s a puzzle!! Seriously! All of this beauty was on the label of a box with a puzzle inside! I get to put it together and then frame it. (Mind. Blown.)

But wait, there’s more!

Donna never got confirmation that my poem puzzle package of delight had been delivered. So I ended up with two!

Here is the story from Donna’s email:

“Now about those two puzzles!

I could tell you the short version –  Zazzle wasn’t sure where the first package went, so they sent another.  You got both. –
But then you’d miss out on all the fun.  If you want to miss out on the fun, skip the part in blue.
The first one was supposedly “lost” out there in either cyberland or post office land.  It never said anything but “shipped” on the tracking page, so I called Zazzle to ask about it (20 minute wait time on hold).  They couldn’t tell what had happened to it.  I guess tracking wasn’t working on their end either, so they sent another. 

Zazzle said if I could get them a street address quickly, they could expedite it
. I found Mark’s phone number on the website, so called it.  He didn’t answer, and I didn’t want to leave a message, just in case you would hear it.  So I hung up.  However Mark called my number right back.  I was surprised to see the number I’d just called on my caller ID. 
When I answered, I wasn’t really prepared – I’d forgotten about the language barrier, but we found we were able to communicate quite well!  Ha!  Anyway, he was a sweetheart and gave me the street address, and said he would forget that I called.  He told me that only UPS and FedEx came way out there.  All mail went to your PO Box.

I quickly emailed Zazzle the street address, and I was notified shortly that they had upgraded the shipping since they had gotten a street address in time.

 
I waited a few days.  The tracking never changed from the first package details.  I still had no idea what was going on.  So I called again (20 minutes on hold).  The woman who finally answered could not tell me what was going on and said she would call me back when she knew.

I waited 24 hours.  No call. 

So I called again to listen to their music for 20 minutes.  (This must be their unwritten policy.  You must listen to music for 20 minutes before you speak to someone.)  The woman that came on the line gave me a tracking number, and said it was on its way and would be there the 22nd, which was not expediting at that point.  Then I saw that it was going US Mail for last part of the trip.  I got nervous that this package was going to get sent back because it didn’t have a PO Box now.  When I check the tracking again, I saw that it did indeed still have the PO Box – no one had REALLY changed it.  But now I could relax.  The package would get there someday.

Then on Friday, I read on your site that you have gotten a poem, hmmm.  I checked the tracking on Saturday, and it said the package had just been delivered.  This had to mean you got both puzzles!

See?  I told you it was a story.  Wasn’t that fun?
I can even laugh now!  I wanted to strangle someone earlier.  Thank Mark for me!”

By the end of this email, I had tears in my eyes because she was so funny in her retelling, but also because her determination to get that package to me is indicative of how caring and committed this community is. What an incredible blessing to be part of it!

Thank you, Donna!!!

 

Author: Keri

21 thoughts on “Poetry Friday: Doubly Puzzled by Donna!

  1. Fabulous!! The puzzle(s), poem, and story! 🙂
    That “bees and hens” stanza is my special favorite because I love that “honey of a chore”!

  2. Holy cow! That Donna is clever! Not to mention persistent! What an amazing gift! I especially love the stanza:
    Self-help need
    Books to weed
    Read us, they implore!
    Describes my summer perfectly! Yikes!

  3. A poem with a literal backstory! I, too, like to fell out over that word bee! Nicely done, Donna.

  4. Besides persistence and cleverness, I’m impressed with Donna’s sense of humour. During all that runaround to the accompaniment of muzack she still keeps her cool and writes about the folks at Zazzle with kindness and, I imagine, a smirk. Thanks for sharing this adventure, Keri, and Donna for seeing it through.

    1. Yes, she’s a better person than I — I think my head would have popped at some point!

  5. Having been the lucky recipient of a Donna poem and gift last Christmas, I know first hand just how creative and thoughtful she is! Wonderful to read Donna’s poem and hear all the glorious (and humorous) details of it’s travel. 🙂

  6. Hi Keri, Your bee farm blog made me salivate! I was trying to find a link to your post from the comment you left on Carol’s post, but your gravatar doesn’t have this blog. It took some persistence to get to the right place. You might consider updating your gravatar page to include a link to this blog, too. That bee word cloud is gorgeous, what fun to do a puzzle. And the poem was delightful, too. How very special Carol is. And you, too.

    1. You’re so kind, Brenda! I’ll have to look into it (although I’m sorry to say I don’t update that blog much these days!). Thanks for stopping by!

  7. Inviting opening
    “…What stories hide
    just beyond the door?”
    And triple wowza.
    The puzzle from the poem.
    The 2 deliveries & the saga of the meandering packages, phone call & all. I felt as if I was in a mystery book.
    Appreciations & summer breezes.

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