Mail Man
First published in Prairie Times, June 2008
Ann Kaiser
Many times we try to relive the past or at least try to get a glimpse of the past. I grew up on a farm in Iowa. The population of the town that I lived by was a whopping 500 people (only if you included the dogs in that total). It is a known fact that in a small town everyone knows everyone and that if you get in trouble your parents would know all about it before you could even think up a good story.
With all the drawbacks of living in a small town there is at least one benefit. We had our own mailman. I would wait until 8:05 and run down to the mailbox to wait for his arrival. We were the first ones on his route so he was always punctual. He would hand me the mail and we would talk about all kinds of things. I’m sure no one else was guaranteed a mail time like we were. It all depended on how long our conversation lasted.
Whenever I had a birthday card or a letter included in the mail bundle, his knowing smile alerted me to that fact before I even peeked. Looking back, I can’t remember whether he was more excited about it or if I was. As I got older I got many letters with most of them from a special young man. He would always make a comment about how many letters I was getting and that he was so glad that he lived in the age of automobiles so he wouldn’t break his back carrying them.
Well I eventually married that young man and moved off the farm and out of Iowa to Colorado. We lived in a city and I never got to know and talk to our mail delivery person. We shared a large postal box with many neighbors and the mail was just delivered.
After five years of suburb living we finally moved out of the city and onto our own “little farm”. We finally had space to move in and to raise a family. More importantly I finally got my own mail man again.
Now my kids are able to run down and say hi and talk to him. They get encouraged to finish their spelling and to put their shoes on when it’s cold. They get the special smile when a birthday package arrives. As for me, I get to relive a little bit of my childhood.
Say what you want about e-mail and text messaging, but for me and my family I’d rather have my mail delivered with a familiar smile and a good old fashioned wave.