I love snail mail- gleefully dancing a jig up the driveway whenever I get mail! It’s my mom that started that happiness with me by mailing me a Holly Hobby birthday card- my first piece of mail long ago. I still have it. Mama had lovely handwriting and Parker pens which were magical to me the way the brilliant blue ink, rolled across the page. She would write long letters to her mother on fancy stationary. I vaguely remember Grandma’s letters, pencil on notebook paper, sometimes sending Mama sage leaves from the garden. Mama would joke and tell us she hoped no one would see it and think it was marijuana. I didn’t get the joke as good as my sister did. Times change, life happens, children grow up and last year I was feeling sad and blue, I didn’t mail one card. My best penpal and daughter, C, graduated. My Aunt Allene and Mrs. Morton have been gone for several years, I missed those cards and letters. Then like Ebenezer, I thought, people don’t care, or “that person never even mails me a card anyway”, it won’t matter. I donated the cards I had bought to Goodwill. Nah humbug. Friday after work, J was thrilled to tell me about all the Christmas cards that came in the mail. Right on the top, was a card from my precious SIL, that has been battling cancer (for the second time) for the past three years. Tears came to my eyes, as I opened the card and read, “Merry Christmas, love Donna and Phil”. I was so happy, so uplifted by that card. Sincerely, all I have is “now”. I went to the store, found some “Original Grinch” (my favorite) cards that made me smile and started writing and remembering what Christmas is really all about. I wish you a happy holiday with a mailbox full of cards.
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