The Little Things

This picture makes me happy. It was taken on December 11, 2010 during one of too many blizzards this winter. I got overwhelmed digging myself out, got the camera, and tried to put the memory on record. The drifts were so high it was laughable (and screamable!). I was darn close to getting out my snow shoes when who appears but my mail carrier. Are you kidding me? This man was working, walking around delivering our mail!?! This needed to be recorded, as well. So I took a picture of him, thanked him profusely, and off he went. The next business day I put a copy of the photo in my mail slot, hoping he'd be back again to enjoy the evidence of his diligent work amidst some rough Minnesota conditions. I wrote a short note of thanks for taking care in getting me my mail and "you're crazy". That was that. On life went.

A few weeks back I took the day off work. My mom recently had surgery and she was banned from lifting and couldn't take care of my sister's kids, as she usually did. So, I decided to fill in, and had a couple of hours break to do my annual filling of the garden with compost. So, I'm in my back yard, shoveling dirt into my yard and I hear "ma'am? ma'am?". It was the mail carrier, kindly asking for my attention. I thought he was being polite, giving me my mail instead of dropping it in the slot, or maybe he had an exciting package of goodies? I love mail! Turns out he had a favor to ask of me. "You know that photo you took of me this winter? Could you email that to me?" Turns out he had been hoping to run into me since that December day, but I was never home. That man didn't really know it, but he made my day; perhaps my month, my year? I sent him that photo and his response was this:

"Thank you so much! Now I can save it in my album of my whole life to review when I will be in any nursing home or will give them to my children and my grandchildren."

This photo, and that interaction, makes me incredibly happy. Somehow it represents community for me, and a sharing between strangers that is oddly intimate. It was such a simple thing, and yet so meaningful. Maybe it's silly to share the story. But, then again, I remember thinking it was silly to put the photo in the mail box in the first place!? Sometimes the little things do make a difference. What little thing can I do today?