A Special Mail Carrier

Most of the time people are excited about getting their mail.  But in the case of my parents it is the mail delivery that is most special.  Their house is on a rural route so they want to see the mail lady, Kathy, drive up to the box.  The wave from the carrier is just like a cheery note that she may be delivering.  On special occasions, she may bring something to the door; it is not always packages and she may not stop at the door.  She has been know to set a flowery plant right on the coffee table or deliver a basket of muffins to the kitchen table.  The standard joke we always had about  a former mail carrier  was that he read the post cards.  Kathy probably doesn't have time to read the cards but she does note the volume of cards and asks about birthdays and special occasions.  She shows concern if she thinks there are a lot of "off season" cards that might be get-well cards.


We have a vacation house next door.  She automatically delivers any mail I might receive to my parent's house since she knows I'll be there when in town.  But the mail box next door is not useless since it is close to the road.  My parent's driveway is steep and snowfall can make it treacherous.  Kathy  knows that senior citizens, especially, like to get mail, so more than once she has put the mail in the box next to the road and called the house to ask the next person out to pick it up. Anyone else would have taken it back to the P.O. and delivered it when the roads were clear.


Carrying the mail has been a part-time job for Kathy.  Her other job has been to drive a school bus for special needs students.  We know that the USPS will replace her with someone to deliver the mail.  But if she needed to give up one job and keep the other, we are so glad that the kids will get to keep their caring driver.


This is a tribute to a lady that did not only  the job for which she was paid; but you couldn't pay her to be so caring, considerate, and kind.  We will miss the SUV and its friendly driver. I'm sure that Kathy didn't see her job as delivering envelopes and packages; she seemed to know she was delivering messages and gifts!