The Mystery of the New Years New Mailbox

Wasn't THIS bad, but close!

Okay, so, we get home from our Christmas vacation on the second day of the new year. I had asked to have our mail held until December 30^th because that was our original date to get home, so I checked on the front porch first to see if our mail might be there, mainly because I was expecting a package that I knew would not fit in the mailbox. Sure enough, our mail was on the porch by our little

Guardian Dragon by front door

dragon, our guardian of the front door. I explain this to give you a better understanding why we didn’t discover the mysterious new mailbox until the third day of the new year. On the third, out I go to check the mail, with my little dog accompanying me as usual, and low and behold, not only is the mailbox looking very clean, but the latch, which has been messed up for months, is miraculously fixed! No, not fixed, brand new. The mailbox is completely brand new. My husband stood on the front porch enjoying the momentarily beautiful weather and I yelled to him, “We have a brand new mailbox!” I had to repeat myself because neither one of us could believe it.

Later, at dinner with friends, I related the mystery of the new mailbox and asked Brad, who used to work for the USPS, if the postal service ever replaced mailboxes that were in need of repair, and of course he said no. It is the customer’s responsibility to provide the mailbox. Which I already knew, but since we didn’t replace our old rusting box, I was searching for possibilities. Nancy, Brad’s wife, suggested that our mutual friends and neighbors, who live four houses down from us, might have replaced our mailbox as a Christmas present, as they had just had theirs replaced a few weeks ago. Now I did ask those friends, and they looked as mystified as I was.

On the off chance, and the only other thing I could think of, I put a note in our new mailbox asking our postal carrier if she might be the Christmas elf, and guess what? She was! She and my husband, right before Christmas, had had a long talk one day and during the conversation he mentioned he

wanted to teach. Evidently, she thought this was a great idea. We had also, before the holidays, left her a Christmas gift, because she really is awesome, just as we did last year.

You can never tell how what you do for others, just because you want to, will influence an unanticipated reaction. And yes, we offered to pay her for the mailbox but she said it was a gift, that anyone who wanted to teach deserved it. Our postal carrier has a truly giving spirit, which made this mystery a joy to solve. Happy New Year everyone! 

Brand Spankin' New Mailbox!!!

old mailbox image from:

pinterest.com