Friday, December 29, 2017

Day 11, 12 & 13

Day 11
I wasn’t expecting anything at all since it was the day before Christmas Eve… and what do you know, three letters!  In this group was #14 and #27!  Whooo-hooo.

 Day 12
The day after Christmas my post office box sat empty… and that was perfectly okay with me because I’m still overwhelmed with how many letters I’ve received.

Day 13
Brought two letters. One from a regular pen-pal, which I always treasure. The other one was a mystery. It had a return address, but the handwriting was unreadable… somewhere in the city as I could read the zip code 63107. When I opened the card, it had a picture of mallards on the front and I admired the pretty colors. My eyes landed on the word SURPRISE and boy was it! The handwritten note was from my husband! You have to understand he is NOT a letter writer. In the 23 years we’ve been together, I might be able to count on one hand the number of letters from him. I, on the other hand, could fill a car trunk with the letters I’ve written to him. Turns out, he filled in the black and white card with color and it’s just beautiful. He told me the address that he wrote was where he grew up. I didn’t recognize his handwriting on the envelope because 1) he doesn’t write much and 2) he disguised it—and did a good job at that.


Do you have someone in your life you’d like to reconnect with? Sit down and hand write a letter. Don’t use the computer or send an email or anything electronic (although if this is the only way you’ll connect, then go for it). There is something about the very act of heart to hand to paper. Yes, just write what’s in your heart—and you’ll touch the heart of those in receipt.

My heart has been touched a bazillion times! Thank you!



Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Day 8, 9, and 10

Here's hoping everyone's Christmas was all what they wanted and Happy New Year!

Day 8
This was my first trip with no mail in my P.O. Box. Even though I felt a tinge of sadness, I quickly changed my attitude because I had received SO many letters already... 29 as of that day. Can you believe it?  I'm so grateful.

Day 9
A special card created by an artist!


Day 10
Honestly, I wasn't expecting to have any mail in the box since it was right before Christmas, as I know how busy people are this time of year. But holy toledo batman, there were eight pieces of mail in my box and all but one from strangers.
See the back of these envelopes with the random numbers... remember how the kids marked 60 envelopes that they self-addressed and stamped and put them out to the world? (OK, St. Louis, MO), but still... it's all so very special and sweet and I'm so lucky and blessed. Thank you all.





Thursday, December 21, 2017

Post Office Day 6 & 7

Just so you know, I go to the Post Office every day except Sunday. The post office is not open on Sunday or holidays.  So I'm counting days as the day I actually pick up mail.

Day 6



I received one letter on Day 6 - and on the back was the number 6.  Did I mention in my original post about this post office box 113 birthday gift that my children self-addressed and stamped 60 envelopes and put them out into the world (okay, our area in St. Louis, MO) with a note to write their mom a letter.  In one of the earlier groups, I received letter #58 or #59 (ack, can't remember), and on Day 6, received #6.  I'm not kidding when I say I'm SO excited!

Day 7


Day 7 brought four letters! And as you can see, there is letter #12, #18, and #28. Oh my gosh, how awesome! And that other letter is from a special friend who always writes me, but when she heard I now have a P.O. Box 113, she sent her letter there!

And don't forget to look at those postage stamps!

Thank you! Love, love, love.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Post Office Day 4 and 5

For those of you following my post office box extravaganza, here it is:

Day 4

Now it was just one letter on Day 4, but remember how I said those ladies at the post office were awesome? Well this here piece of mail came from one of those ladies!  How cool is that?

Day 5

Yes, look at that - six letters! My gosh, I'm the luckiest woman in the world! 

And if anyone has written and is watching this blog, rest assured, I will write you back. It's just going to take me a while and more than likely after the holidays.

In that brown envelope was a real treasure and I'd like to thank you! You know who you are!  Well, I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to write. It means a lot!

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Frazzled?

I wanted to blog daily about my trips to the post office, but rather than being frazzled about it, I will blog when it suits me.

Day 2 brought eight letters! 



 Day 3 brought three letters.



And if you are frazzled because of all the holiday happenings, I warmly invite you to take some time for yourself and join me for the Community HU (sponsored by Eckankar as a community service). Or if you just want to know more about HU you can go to: www.eckankar.org/huIt’s a little late notice, but it is tomorrow and I will be facilitating :-) 

Sunday, December 17, 2017
11:00 – 11:30 a.m.
St. Louis Eckankar Center
14538 Manchester Road, Suite 202
Ballwin, MO  63011

The building sits behind another building on Manchester.

Singing HU is universal and for any faith/religion/beliefs… we sing HU for 20 minutes, followed with 5 minutes of quiet contemplation and then you can also join in for light refreshments afterwards… a beautiful way to start any day.


With love,

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Where to start...

December 13, I turned 60 and my husband turned 70 and we celebrated 15 years of marriage. I changed my mind about what I wanted to do to celebrate, and so on the actual day, I stayed home. My three children, Casey, Jessica and Rita spent the day with me. Jessica prepared a breakfast, then we opened presents. Oh my gosh, they overdid themselves. Any ONE of the gifts would have been more than enough, but what I thought was THE gift – my very own mailbox – wasn’t the grandbaby of them all. But look at this mail box:


See? What writer of letters wouldn’t love this beauty?

Then I opened a smaller box and inside contained a key chain with two gold keys on it. It had my name on one side and on the other P.O. Box 113. I didn’t know what it was as the mailbox above had its own set of keys.

Really, I didn’t know what to think. I sat there staring at the gold keys. My kids said something like, “Look at Mom, she doesn’t know what it is or what to think.” They were correct about that. I looked closer at the gold keys and saw engraved U.S.P.S., but still nothing was clicking in that brain of mine.

Then they told me: “Mom, we rented a post office box for you for a year.”

“Really?” Huh, I was thinking. What for? I mean, I love to go to the post office, but wasn’t sure why I'd  need a post office box.

“We also posted on Instagram and have been telling anyone who wants to write you a letter, they can write to P.O. Box 113.”

“What? Are you for real?”

“Yeah. And guess where the post office box is – which post office?”

“Valley Park?”

“Yep!”

My arms went sky high and I shouted “Whoo-hooo!” But then I looked around, “Oh my gosh, you’re kidding, right?”

Then they showed me the Instagram message telling people – random people – write my mom a letter and mail to Lynn at P.O. Box 113, Valley Park, MO  63088.

Stunned doesn’t explain my brain. Let me just say that the Valley Park Post Office is an old post office and they have the best employees. I had gone to a post office in Manchester, in a strip mall type area, but they closed and I was so upset because I wasn’t a fan of the other post offices around. I’ll keep it nice. But someone told me about the post office in Valley Park and as soon as I pulled in the parking lot, I fell in love. (Yes, I drive extra just to go there.) And then the employees that work there, well I fell doubly in love as those ladies are great. They are kind. They are sweet. They always have a smile on their face. They are patient and hard working.

When my kids asked what I wanted to do next (after opening my gifts), I said, “Go to the post office and check out my post office box and see if I have any mail.” Duh.

We all piled in the car and drove to Valley Park Post Office. Oh, and 13 is my favorite number for obvious reasons, but other reasons as well. I thought the kids asked for P.O. Box 113 on purpose, but it turns out, it was one of those serendipity kind of things. We talked on the way how there might not be any mail in the box because it’s only been a week and well, not a lot of people like to write and it’s a busy time of year, but I thought it’d be fun regardless to just see the post office box. I was like a kid in a candy shop. I took the key and stuck it in the key hole of P.O. Box 113 while the kids gathered around and snapped pictures. I noticed the long line in the post office and people were looking our way, smiling.  

I opened the box and viola, LETTERS! I grabbed them, counted six and hollered, “Whoo-hooo!”

I wanted to go in and talk to the ladies that work at this post office because they know me and I wanted to tell them what I got for my 60th birthday. Everyone inside waiting in line smiled and it turns out they wondered what was going on – they thought I just found out I was a grandma or something. Ha.  At first I thought they thought I was grandma.

Jessica made a key chain out of bark, painted gold on one side and on the other side are the words: “Like flowers ache for spring, my heart craves my mother more than anything.” This key chain holds the keys to the post office box and mailbox.


In this group of letters was a letter from each of my kids – that they put in my own personal (above) mailbox.

It was the best birthday ever! (There’s more to tell, more gifts, more cards, more people who touched my heart, but I’m keeping this about the mail.) I plan to blog as often as I can to let you know what mail comes in… it may be brief because I’ll have letters to write!


I not only have my own mail box, but my own post office box where people will be writing me letters – what a thrill!