I haven’t been trained in the art of tracking things through the woods, and  I’m pretty sure my dog is equally bad at it, since he recently spent a good minute barking at a leaf on the ground while missing the four squirrels scurrying over his head.  Nope, I’m talking about the glories of modern technology and shipping companies.

Very few things in my life give me a sense of control.  That’s probably appropriate, since I don’t control much of anything.  The post office is always mysteriously closed when I try to mail things (even during regular business hours), recipes don’t often go as planned, and life is generally unpredictable.  I’m pretty okay with that.

But now shipping companies have decided to give me a little glimmer of happy self-deception.  It’s definitely more fun than knowing you’re powerless.

When you order things online, you get a handy tracking number that you can use to watch the progress of your order.  I understand that I still have no control over my order.  It just seems like I have control.  Knowledge is power, right?!  If I know that the mail in question is stuck in Kansas, I could hypothetically drive to Kansas, sneak into the warehouse, and get it myself.  I wouldn’t ever do that, but just knowing that extra piece of information makes me feel like I have options.  So thank you, FedEx and UPS and all of you other shipping companies.  It’s very nice of you to give your customers a false sense of control.

Also, I snapped off a few wayward branches of dill this morning, and my hands still smell like dill.  Mmm.  So much more appealing than the scent of industrial-strength hand soap or whatever else I usually smell like at work.