First Package

After intensely waiting, my first package arrived to Barrow Island from the other side of the world in the short time of 7 days. This is far from the estimate which was given to me of 2-4 weeks. SO NOW WE KNOW with the "small" price of $160, UPS can get your package to me in a week. Mom and Dad had a small competition with US Postal and Pouch Mail, and UPS won by a mile. The price may seem high but the joy it filled me with as worth every penny. After much anticipation and tracking down the package once it got to the island, it was delivered to me at work. Inside I found my much needed Log of Skoal (6 CANS TO BE EXACT) which was good since I was on my last can. Following that goody was 3 shirts (1 Under Armor, 2 BAMA), 3 hats, and much needed pictures. The pictures were hung immediately with my ever growing collection in my office. Rachel wanted to send me a package but I have a feeling she was putting things in there she put a lot of time into and didn't want them to get lost or damaged during transit. So this first package represented a lot. It represented that a package with the right price could, A. GET HERE, B. Arrive in a timely manner, and C. I'M NOT FORGOTTEN. I expect the other things to get here, and each one will only help my tour over here in Australia. While spending 8 weeks on an isolated island in the same environment is grueling and repetitive, packages and Skype have kept me sane and kept me feeling loved. I just wanted to extend a special thanks to everyone for the emails, phone calls, skype time (ODD HOURS DUE TO 13 HOURS TIME DIFFERENCE), packages and soon to come snail mail. It truly has kept me going and breaks up the long weeks and days. My room back at camp feels a little more like alabama with the new gifts and is healing the wounds of home sickness. I look forward to the call of "PAUL GARNER, 'MAIL'!"... I am stocked on SKOAL and will be home soon so no packages will be needed for a few weeks ( I WILL BE COMING HOME ON NOV 4) but the next rotation brings up a whole new chapter in the book of BARROW ISLAND. SO till then....