What’s something almost everyone has? A mailbox.
Although these days, the virtual rather than the physical may first come to mind, regularly checking the physical mailbox is part of most people’s daily or weekly routine.
Usually, the search reveals little of interest. Circulars, bills, requests for donations – hardly anything important. Other than the occasional birthday, anniversary or holiday card, or the exceedingly rare vacation post card, few items in the physical mailbox come from real people.
The people I know are luckier. On a regular basis, I transform the physical mailboxes of my family members and friends with a piece of real mail. Instead of “snail” mail, I see myself as the sender of “smile” mail. Many of my recipients are locals, people who I’ve known for some part of my four decades as a Western New Yorker.
People are also reading…
Others are family or friends, inhabiting unique locations on my memory landscape. They have one thing in common: all are people who float through my mind now and again. The memory can be little (like the small tides of Lake Michigan, where I grew up) or major (like the Pacific Ocean waves that knocked me down when I was 20). I pay attention to them all.
Perhaps you, too, can elevate your memories into action. Instead of texting or emailing or phoning, try writing. Recrafting the memory changes a thought that skitters through your mind into a gift. I offer a verbal bouquet of our shared experience – time we spent together, a food, or a time of year which holds vivid associations for us.
My notes, describing what I remembered, are designed to bring the memory to life. I imagine my friend smiling as I unlock our history. These are short notes that write themselves, including just a sentence or two about my current life. The focus is on a time gone by. Many notes are cards I create from my photographs, giving them a visual peek into my life. I love to imagine my envelopes magically turning the mailboxes of my friends from plain to dazzling. Many friends reciprocate, and my mailbox gets beauty treatments of its own.
Sometimes my notes aren’t memory-based. I enjoy buying books of postcards, as the picture on the front offers a prompt for something to write. I send them along to friends who welcome a lift. Cards offer an elevation that differs from electronic communication. Creating something to read, to hold, makes me (as sender) as happy as it does the receiver. Recipients include my aunt, who turned 97 a few months ago. Every Wednesday, I send her a weekly postcard, letting her know she is remembered and treasured.
As a subscriber to newspapers and magazines, I know that I am one of the endangered species of print readers. Clipping articles of interest to send to friends is its own pleasure, as I can imagine my recipient having a magnetic attraction to the article’s message.
A surprise note of appreciation is another way that I move the dial of others’ mailboxes from boring to “Wow!” When someone goes out of their way to lend me a hand, I will often send along a card. Recently, the manager at a chain hotel went out of her way to help me with a complicated reservation. Although I thanked her on the phone, I also sent along a written note. And I received a card in return! What a surprise – it made me smile.