I have just come across the site PostCrossing!
Are you one who loves to write and receive real mail? For me, there is nothing more creative than writing a hand-written letter and also receiving one back. The art of letter writing is almost nearly forgotten today, but isn’t it just such a bright creative burst when you do receive something handwritten in the mail today amid the bills and catalogues? An utter delight for me.
If the idea of letter writing is lost, I think the art of the far-away postcard is almost also of a by-gone era. There is nothing I like more than sending posts from far off places to dear family and friends, but my past few trips none of them even arrived. Not only are people not writing them, the mail is not delivering them. Oh what to do?
You can imagine how my creative spirits were buoyed by learning about PostCrossing – a service that invites you to write a postcard to a stranger, the service generates the address for you to write to, and then, in turn, you will also receive a postcard from a stranger. What a delight. For the cost of a stamp, mind you it will be international, you can send a wish, thought, or idea to a stranger in a strange land and anticipate receiving one in return.
I remember many years ago, I was taking tea at a hotel in London. Ah, it was a grand moment. I was sitting there having my tea, writing out postcards, and listening to a grand pianist. All of a sudden, a young woman ran over to my table – a complete stranger – and told me what we could do. She would take a picture of me and I would take a picture of her. Then, we were to exchange home addresses with one another. From there, she said, “One day, it will most likely be dreary and cold, you will receive the picture I just snapped of you here and it will bring it all back in a moment. Promise you will do the same for me.”
PostCrossing feels like a service in the same spirit. We were strangers, real correspondence would arrive, and our days would be brightened. I immediately signed up for the service, pulled out a postcard, dashed off a note, stamped it, and mailed it the very next day. It really gave me such a creative burst of energy to think of a stranger holding my postcard.
Now, I wait for one to arrive for me. Who it will be from, I have no idea. What type of postcard remains a mystery for now. There are far too few mysteries in our lives. Check out CrossPosting to perhaps discover one of your own.