Dear Reader:

In my humble opinion… there is not a text or email, no matter how powerful, that comes close to a handwritten note, card, or letter . ( Something tangible that can be saved for posterity. Treasures that outlive even ourselves.)

The nicest thing about a letter is that you don’t need a gadget to open it… all you need are your fingers… or a letter opener if one is that organized. But I just like the tactile feel of an envelope or post card… it doesn’t’ just pop up on a mobile phone, chrome book or laptop… you get to hold it and wonder at all the possibilities that might be written inside. There is an aura of mystery that surrounds snail-mail that is missing from ” tech” messages.

As a child I remember feeling so important if a letter came addressed just to me from a relative and/or later friends. Now I try to send some snail mail letters to my grandchildren because it simply makes one feel special!

Every time today I see or use an individual Kleenex pack I think of mother. Because I know longer have eyelashes due to so much chemo over the years… my eyes are very sensitive to the sun and I have to wear sunglasses almost constantly. They water a lot!!!

Mother was always looking for tissue, too. for her eyes and nose… I think our body faucets don’t turn off as well as they did when younger-instead they just drip drip!

So after mother went to the Presbyterian Village with dementia …I would try to mail her a letter , every week, with a personal package of tissue …that fit in an envelope without any trouble.

Much later the working aides there laughed and told me that mother’s eyes lit up every time she opened her letter and pulled out the tissues-it might as well been gold.

All of this is leading me to a large Post-and Courier post card that arrived about a week ago. Look what was on the front of it…

My dolphin! I knew immediately who it was from… The Dolphin Lady aka Linda Kargas-Bone! My once eighth grade student… now author and national educational presenter!

Immediately the picture took me back to that early, foggy October morning-2008-strolling alone on Edisto Beach) when a dolphin surprised me sitting on the jetties by making a vertical leap high above me smiling down with an intuitive telepathic message-” All is right with the world… Everything is as it should be… now go live your life fully.”( I was four months into chemo and radiation after my late May diagnosis)

That same day Linda was flying out to do a presentation-picked up a post card at random from a gift shop and unknowingly chose a card with a dolphin on it! This was the beginning of my new understanding about God Winks! ***On this latest post card that just arrived… Linda’s message ended with ” Dolphin Lady.” Now fourteen years later it has come full circle!

So until tomorrow… ” Snail Mail is an unexpected party in a letter… a celebration!”

All the grandchildren’s Japanese Maples … like my grandchildren themselves… are blooming and blossoming!

Today is my favorite day -Winnie the Pooh