Imagine That

When the daily mail arrives at our house, the carrier places the post in an narrow opening just to the right of our front door. From there it falls into a side cabinet on the wall and waits for someone's curious retrieval.

I suppose I should clarify that the arrival of the mail is not a deeply anticipated event around here. Most often it is only bills, or a boring blah-blah-blah kind of general correspondence. There is a sticker on the outside of the house declaring NEE (no!) to advertisements or junk mail kinds of deliveries, so there isn't even the hope and joy of looking at the grocery store flyers or ads for the latest miracle wrinkle removing cream.

Nope, mail time is not so much a party time around here.

Except for the day when you get a postcard in the mail.

I shall repeat that.

A postcard! In the mail!

I got a postcard in the mail.

One day last week I casually opened the door to the mail cabinet and there sitting on the shelf was a postcard. Cool, I thought. I picked it up and turned it over in my hands.

On the front of the card: an Edward Hopper print. And on the back a handwritten note, but not in a handwriting I readily recognized. I scanned through the message quickly and then my eyes fell to the signature.

Allison.

My friend Allison.

Yeah, you know her too. Maybe you call her SMID, but you know her. The socially conscious, deeply passionate wife, mother, blogger, advocate, mentor and friend who speaks without a Boston accent.

She also sends postcards.

Isn't that the epitome of cool?

Seriously, I was so touched that she took the time out of her day to write a note on the back of a card, address it, stamp it and send it. To me. It made my day. Nay, it made my week.

And I have been thinking about it a lot ever since it arrived.

Think-think-think-think.

This is what I hit on. I want to pay that thrill forward. I want you, my friends and readers, my readers who are my friends, to receive a piece of cool mail in your letterbox. I can't make it a surprise like the arrival of my postcard was, since I am telling you about it now, but I do want to make it a little something to look forward to. C'mon, a postcard from Holland? That will be some fun, right?

Here's my plan.
(Pay attention, this is also the way I am coordinating this post to work for my Friday Fifteen for the week. Stay with me here, and applaud me for my creative thinking.)

1. If you want to play, meaning:you want a card, leave me a comment.
2. Your comment needs to be a 15 word reply.
3. Not fourteen.
4. Nor sixteen.
5. Just fifteen words in the comment box.
6. Be creative.
7. Be redundant.
8. Be enthusiastic.
9. Be brief.
10. Fifteen words. (That is words NOT syllables)
11. Sign off with your email address.
(which doesn't count as part of your 15 words)
12. Encrypt it anyway you like.
13. I will need that so I can contact you
to get your HOME ADDRESS.
14. Because I am going to send you a postcard.
15. In the mail.

Friday Fifteen