Twenty-seven years ago Ed started in the post office in our home state of California. It certainly doesn't seem that long ago but I now romanticize the days when he knew every customer on his route, took mail up to and sometimes inside the door of the elderly folks who needed a little visit and walked most of his route. There were still individual mailboxes and the little jeep mail trucks!
At Christmas he would be bombarded with candy, cookies, gift certificates, cash, wine, and all kinds of crafty things. It was so lovely. In the summer, customers would leave sodas in the mailbox for him and sometimes a treat. So Norman Rockwell. He had a walking route and a bag. He had a spic-and-span uniform and a code that stated his hair could not touch his collar, no facial hair and his uniform needed to be clean and ironed. I used to get up at 4 AM and get his uniform ironed for his day.
We have been blessed several times to live on his route. We would then get to see Daddy everyday for lunch. This was so exciting! Way back when he would come home and put babies to nap while I fixed his lunch. What a guy...now that's service! We live on his route now and we love seeing him everyday plus I get my mail delivered right into my kitchen!
He has always loved his job but it doesn't even begin to resemble what it once was. There is little time to visit with customers because the P.O. keeps tight tabs on their letter carriers with time checks on a scanner all through the routes. Christmas time is pretty sparse comparatively and he doesn't know as many people on his route because they have those big grey boxes in their neighborhoods with many mailboxes all together, away from their houses. There's rarely one~on~one at the fence or mailbox anymore.
I suppose it's another sign of the times in which we now live. I cannot pinpoint why or exactly when it happened, this impersonal way of doing things, but it has arrived and Norman Rockwell would be sad. We experience this too with a hobby our family has. Are ya ready.....square dancing! It's is so much fun, such a family, a lovely social circle and great exercise! Almost everyone in our family has had lessons and danced for years. The square dance community is like family to us as we have no family here. Like the old days of the Post Office there is the same phenomenon going on in Square Dancing. People just don't take the time to come out and dance like they used to. Many take lessons but something keeps them at home instead of coming out to dances. I wish I understood it. Gone are the days of a social club and commitments to the good of a group.
Mary teaching a little friend and fellow Wish Child how to sqaure dance
We have always loved that group of folks because among other things, it's great for the kids to meet and mingle with adults from 18 to 98...literally. We have dancers at the Hall in their 90's ! The kids have met wonderful people with amazing stories. One of the elderly couples who do not dance anymore used to come just to socialize. The gentleman is a veteran of WWII and was in the crowd of heros who stormed the beach at Normandy!! What a treat for my boys. He loved speaking to them about it and after one evening of visiting, took me aside with tears and thanked me for having sons who wanted to listen to his stories. He was so pleased someone cared. This is life. This is happiness. This is old fashioned I guess. We are old fashioned and we like it that way.
I guess I have a hard time with change when it affects relationships, whether it's Ed's postal customers or watching young people connect less and less. We are less and less personal with one another as time and technology march forward. I don't see anything positive in this depersonalization. I hope that my children will learn to listen to old folks, be respectful to middle aged folks and connect with young folks their age. Really connect not just by social media, not by cell phones, but board games, walks, sports, dinners out. This is where relationships are built.
Oh well, in our little neck o' the woods we still love the postman and square dancing ! Sounds like we're a bunch of geeks!
~Blessings~
Lisa
I hear you! I get so frustrated with my kiddos over this. Nobody exchanges phone numbers, it's all texts IM's etc. Argh.
ReplyDeleteHere's to board games, walks, sports, and dinners out!!! :)
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