Today, I am going to embrace my eccentricities. I will admit my flaws and love my kookiness.
Scratch that.
Today, I will share with you one of my eccentricities. I will put it out there in all its glory. (And then I will wear a hat and dark glasses everywhere I go for the next month because I just put this out there...on the Internet.)
I write letters.
I write letters to people I know.
I write letters to people I don't know. Seriously.
I use more stamps than anyone I know.
The post office guy knows me by name, where I work, how many kids I have, and waves at me when he sees me in Publix.
I write letters.
I've been writing letters for as long as I can remember. Receiving a card or letter in the mail is one of my favorite things. I am positively giddy every day when I pull open the mailbox and glance at the stack of paper. 99% of the time it's junk mail. Coupons, credit card offers, special offers. Then, there is that other 1%. Invitations to parties, birth announcements, thank you cards. Oh, that 1% is the best. Encountering an actual message from a friend will make my entire week.
It seems to me that if personal mail makes me that happy, then surely it makes other people that happy too. I write letters. Once a month, I flip through the pages of my life. I reflect on and consider the influences in my life. I draft a message or messages and walk to the mailbox. It will probably take the rest of my life to acknowledge all the souls that have inspired me or changed my life in some way, but I'm okay with that. If I could, I would send every person on the planet a little something. We all need a word of encouragement from time to time.
The hardest ones for me to compose and mail are messages of condolence. I'm not good at it at all. I never quite know what to say, but I try. Brutal honesty: Condolences are less difficult for me when I don't know the person; sending messages like that to people I know is like trying to dig the words from my gut. The emotional involvement is very uncomfortable for me.
Think about all the people you know and the ones that you don't know but have heard about....is it possible that you need a stamp too?