Waiting on the postman

SO, the government is looking for ways to trim the budget.  Ha ha, one big fat entity, that has more pork fat than a farmer john hot dog, is trying to find ways to save our country from financial ruin,  How about this - STOP SPENDING!  I am no financial wizard.  I do not hold a piece of parchment that says I am from Harvard, Yale, Princeton or MIT,  and might indicate I have some wizard magic on budgeting, saving, money or anything else.  What I do have is a degree in common sense.  If you don't have any money, then you don't borrow, you don't buy on credit and you start saving.  It is a constant source of entertainment to watch the pinheads in Washington D.C. attempt to balance a budget when, as is evidenced from their past errors, they are completely clueless when it comes to matters of the leather wallet.

Today's news bring a sad story about who might be on the chopping block.. The U.S. Postal Service.  Oh, this is a sad day.  How will little kids get their mail to Santa Claus if there is no postal service?  What will happen to the Christmas card?  The Mother's Day card, the Thank You note,  the Dear John letter, the baby announcements, and of course, the credit card bill?

Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, one of the greatest joys I had was waiting on the postman.  Yes, I sound pretty darn pathetic.  Of all the jollies a kid can have, I was waiting for Art the postal worker to drop off the mail.  He usually showed up around noonish, 6 days a week. Sometimes there was a little red flag on our mailbox indicating that there was out going mail.  Art would deliver the mail, flip the little red flag down, and drive on down the street in his little post army looking jeep, with the steering wheel on the wrong side of the vehicle.

I was raised by parents who insisted you should write letters.  You should write thank you notes to relatives.  You should communicate with people across the globe with pen and paper.  I treasure every letter I ever received from an auntie in South Africa, or an uncle in Ireland.  The art of letter writing seems to have fallen by the wayside with the development of email and internet.  Should I thank Al Gore, who invented the internet?

The delivery on the mail was great.  And before I knew any different - and saw the light of liberalism and its evil ways, I liked to read TIME Magazine.  My dad was a subscriber.  He never did see the light, well at least not that light.  We also were "members" of the National Geographic Society.  And of all my siblings, it was me who enjoyed writing letters to relatives.  My great aunt, Mary Alice Magee, from Boston, MA had an affinity for the letter.  I wrote to her on a regular basis - and receiving her letters was such a welcome event.  They smelled like Chanel No. 5.  To this day, I can still recall her address.  225 Beacon Street, Boston, MA 02116.  How's that?  She's been dead for almost 30 years, yet, her address is stuck in my mind.  Guess I wrote to her more than I recall.

Art the postman had it made at our house.  My parents gave him an "envelope" Christmas gift every year.  Some amount of money, tucked in an envelope.  Some days there would be cookies we placed in the mail box for Art.  Some days I would sit at the curb and wait for Art so I could personally hand him my little note for one of my many relatives.  Art was a member of our family, truth be told.  Not in the genetic sense, but just a constant reminder of a man who was working hard, delivering the mail, and making a little girl's day, by delivering letters from far away places.

I don't know what happened to Art.  I suppose as the years went by, he retired and then waited for his mail to be delivered.  What I do know is that today's generations have no idea what joy there is when a letter comes to you, with a stamp, and inside is a wealth of information from a relative.  A Dear Ann,  How are you?  What are you up to?  etc., etc., etc.

The mail I wish would go away (hello government - here's a cut for you) is junk mail.  Now, if government really is serious about ways to find more money in our already failing economy and budgetary woes - why don't you come up with a law that bans junk mail.

Oh well, I guess that's just asking too much.  I better get going - I need to run to the post office before it is cut from our budget.  And to Art, where ever you are - Thanks for delivering the mail through sleet, snow, rain, sunshine, hot days, cold days - all days of the year.  You were the real deal!