The Joy of Snail Mail

Our daughter received a package in the mail yesterday from a girlfriend in Texas. It wasn't to celebrate my daughter's birthday. It wasn't a party invitation. It wasn't a school imposed writing assignment. This old fashioned form of communication was from the heart. The envelope held a card from her friend, a best friend's locket and two photographs. One picture displayed the connecting locket and one picture captured her two best friends smiling broadly and wearing the matching lockets. My nine-year-old daughter was overjoyed and so was I. Unexpected snail mail is the BEST!
In similar fashion my four-year-old son has checked mail every day since the end of September. His sister celebrated her birthday last month and something for her arrived in the mail almost daily. He declared last week, "I will check the mail today, Mommy! It's my turn for a package!".  The anticipation of opening up that black piece of metal to see if a surprise is waiting in the container is too much for a four-year-old to handle. His big brown eyes sparkle, he licks his top lip from one corner to the other, stands on his tippy, tippy toes and yanks open the mailbox with such force, I am sure the wooden post will come up, too. And then a big, heavy sigh follows. Sadly, a piece of mail has not come to him yet, but I have a feeling a letter will be arriving very soon from a grandparent.
We don't celebrate snail mail enough. Emails, texts and phone calls have replaced envelopes and stamps. I love receiving a handwritten letter, a newspaper clipping or a funny card. My Mother-in-Law is the master of sending notes to our house on a frequent basis. She or Grandpa might have spied a Family Circle cartoon that reminded her of the grandchildren. After the a hurricane devastated the Outer Banks, there was an article about my husband's former art teacher's summer house, so she sent the newspaper our way. I have received delicious recipes from various club gatherings or magazines. The thank you notes and thinking of you notes fill up a memory box that I pull out on my down days. I can't always pull up an email because more than likely I accidentally hit the delete button or filed in a misconstrued place deep in the recesses of lost computer space.
Recently my Father-in-Law found old letters his Mother and Father had written to him while he was away at college. He was studying in Massachusetts and his parents resided in North Dakota. His Father wrote magnificent letters full of town news, family updates, encouragement for a son that might be a bit homesick and thoughtful quotes from poets, philosophers and authors we are no longer able to recite from memory. These letters have enabled my husband's Dad to revisit with his Father who passed away over thirty years ago. Simple joy from a simple act.
My Mom is a post card queen. I have another box full of postcards from Europe and the continental United States written with the familiar and comforting handwriting of the woman who raised me. Her writings include fun facts about the location and usually a numbered code that when translated reads "I love you". And there is ALWAYS a tidbit about the new friends she has met and the local food she has sampled. My Mom can write a post card like no other person and at times, I truly believe she would have made a fantastic travel columnist.
I like the thought that someone took time out of their day to say hello. I like that they pondered words and reread the sentences out loud like a copy editor. I like that they put pen to paper and emotion to words and a stamp to an envelope. I like that years from now I can share time with them again, even if I cannot respond with an email or text or phone call. But I can hold on to that letter and the response will be felt in my heart. Ah, the joy of snail mail. 
PS: Have you written to someone today?