By Bradley Robertson
One of my favorite movies is “You’ve Got Mail,” starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The storyline is adorable, telling of two New Yorkers who fall in love via email. The movie was released in 1998, about the same time as email became popular. (Seems ancient, right?) Today, email is the way of life for any and all communication.
Email is quick and automated. It can be as formal as we choose or one simple sentence. It can be made personal and yet also act as a barrier from being personal at all. We can chat work, talk to people all over the world, send out invitations and share moments with family. The list goes on.
I began to think, what would come of us with a pencil and paper, an envelope and a stamp?
If given more processes, more time to think the thoughts, do you think one may have more meaningful words?
Without hesitation, the answer is clearly yes.
Slow the process, slow the mind, slip into words that serve and are kind.
Dr. David Jeremiah wrote, “Written encouragement comes directly from the heart, uninterrupted and uninhibited. That’s why it’s so powerful.”
In a time where we can barely even stop at a stop sign, what if we flipped the coin and stopped to write a letter to send in the mail? Who would you send it to?
I’m sharing my snail mail with you today, in the hopes it encourages you in some way, for what if our words that mean the most simply drift away?
Or, what if we allow them to stay? To remain atop a piece of paper to remind us of the things that matter.
Here is my letter, written February 12, 2021.
“Dearest Farmer,
How are you this fine rainy day?
Did you enjoy coffee this morning? I enjoyed bringing it to you. Thank you for making breakfast for the kids. It’s a small thing, but it’s not small at all. I know how much you love breakfast and serving it up hot on the regular. I also know it’s been a long, cold winter for you, and I’m betting you haven’t had a good breakfast since Christmas Day.
Don’t you just love how food serves the soul? It’s like me cooking dinner every day; I get tired of it sometimes, but I know for you it’s more than just food. When you work outside in the winter all day till sunset and come home to warm food, I bet I don’t even know what that’s like. I bet it’s just the feeling of home. A relief of sorts that there is always a place to go back to.
Can you tell how much I love food too? We have always shared this since we met. I remember taking you to China Palace in the old Heart of Dixie Hotel. I still remember sitting with you and opening fortune cookies. We were young and had no clue of today. But the memories are fantastic!
Winter will be over soon, another season passing by. I have begun to hear the birds outside at sunrise. I think they are calling for spring more fondly than we are. Even this morning, when Shep got out of bed he said, “The sun came up, so I got up.” You responded with, “Son, the sun isn’t up yet.” And Shep replied, “Well I heard the birds chirpin’.”
And there you go. Birds and little boys calling for spring.
You have worked so hard this winter and I’m proud for you. Proud for our family and what is to come next. Whatever is to come, I know we will keep serving up breakfast and supper. We will keep being a home, a place we can always go back to.
I love you. Thank you.
Bradley”