Mail Call

I explain the duct tape later

I can't believe two weeks have gone by so quickly! They have been filled with joy. And filled. I hope to get to them soon.

But for now, in this little window I have before supper, I just wanted to note how wonderful it has been to get mail from many of y'all.

Real, hold-in-your hands mail. Snail Mail. Thrill.

So true.

Showing up like a surprise gift in our mailbox. And sometimes, actual surprise gifts. 

For one thing, we get mail a little more often than we do at home (because we are away from all those people we see in person). And given that there are six of us and my kids do some writing, there is always cause for hope that there may be mail. Which means the checking of the mailbox is a daily Event. One of our family liturgies of this year.

For another thing, we have our own individual mailbox across the country highway from our house, instead of the block of neighborhood mailboxes we have at home. This means that if we have mail going out, I get to put up a little red flag like I did growing up. And I then know when the mail has come because the little red flag is down. There is one location inside our house where I can check this status without going outside.

From our bedroom window

Which is important, because when it is seven degrees outside one doesn't want to get all booted up and find the outgoing Netflix DVD still waiting to be picked up.

The mailbox has served us well, although it took some hits for the team this winter. Twice it suffered dislocation by the force of heavy snow being thrown up by the plow.

Another time it landed about eight feet away from the post. 

Finally, J stopped repairing it and just duct-taped it onto the post for the rest of the season, which included incidents like this:

That snow is frozen solid, folks.

And now, Nutmeg has found herself a faithful penpal in a cousin down in Marietta. Neither of them can quite read yet, but they both can make letters and/or draw pictures. And so the correspondence has been flying back and forth. SO MUCH FUN.

She started out copying letters; she now often asks me to "tell me them out loud."

Anyway, as I contemplate going home and losing this: my little red flag and peeping out my bedroom window and waiting until slow-traffic times to cross our highway-- I am immensely grateful for those of you who have put a stamp or seven onto something and sent it our way. Please know that along with your post, several grins and some dancing were delivered. Thank you.



**UPDATE-- As of Saturday 5.23, there is no longer duct tape on our mailbox.