Snail Mail: The Important vs. the Memorable
The Bigger Picture and The Writing Cooperative’s June Writing Challenge
I remember checking the mailbox three times a day when I was young, hoping to see the sea monkeys I ordered off a cereal box or cassette tapes from Columbia House. In high school, I waited anxiously to learn the results of college applications. A big, thick envelope meant “accepted” and a regular-sized envelope meant bad news. After college, waiting for my Peace Corps country assignment brought the same mail-induced-anxiety. Eastern Europe would be my new home, and when the big, fat envelope came, I danced the happy dance because I got my first choice, Bulgaria.
As an adult, this ritual of waiting for the mail doesn’t exist. With the advent of email and online bill pay, typically the snail mail is all junk — NPR and universities asking for donations, the local grocery story delivering coupons, and I just hit the age that the AARP wants me. I also have USPS’ “Informed Daily Digest,” so I get an email every morning with images of the snail mail that will arrive later that day. Last week, I saw my mom’s handwriting in the USPS email. My birthday already passed, I couldn’t think of any holiday, and my mom hadn’t texted to tell me she was sending anything, so for the first time in ages, I waited all day for the mailman and ran out…
