Real Mail

Do you remember the very first piece of mail you ever received? I mean, back in the day when you were a kid? I can't remember my first letter, but I do recall how exciting it was to get them. Everyone in the family was enthusiastic about our mailbox, which was down the hill at the town Post Office. No mailboxes outside the houses in those days! I have kept many of those old letters (somewhere), and am thankful for the glimpse they give into mid-century life.

Now with the Internet powering our emails, texts, and tweets, people rarely actually receive actual letters, in an actual mail box. It is partly because of this that I began the 'daily postcard from Grandma in St Ives'. This tradition, which started with the three older grandchildren, has now stretched out to include the smallest sprite in our collection. As a one-year-old he does not yet read, but his siblings are thrilled to do it for him. He is (reportedly) ecstatic to now be receiving mail. His first postcard held a picture of two large dolphins, standing the way they do in water, laughing up into the camera. It is true, dear Readers, the dolphins were actually, hilariously laughing! And when the one-year-old saw them, he laughed right back. You can't help but laugh when a dolphin laughs first.

It may have taken a week for that postcard to find its way to him, compared to an email which takes less than a second. And now he can begin gathering and storing up his postcards to look at when he is a man. There will be absolute stacks of them from Grandma, who used to visit a far away land called Cornwall, and who thought of him every day when she was there.  


See you along the way!
the SconeLady