Cross-posted at Street Prophets
Mail Call
What are you doing today? How about taking the time to write a Valentine--and send it to one of our soldiers?
It's not surprising that mail call is one of the brightest spots in a soldier's life, when they're so far from home and in harm's way. I know we are all unhappy with the person & policies that sent our service men & women abroad, but the soldiers themselves are doing the job they were sent to do in the best way they can.
Valentine cards for service members overseas need to be mailed by today to be sure of getting them delivered by Feb. 14, the Postal Service said.
"Cupid may have wings, but we have to rely on more conventional methods," said postal consumer advocate Delores Killette.
Tips for Military Valentines
If you don't have any personal contacts, AnySoldier.com helps connect you to service men and women. Surf over to their Where to Send page to read personal messages and requests from individual soldiers.
Mail can be a small but important blessing. I can remember times when that hopeful trip to the mailbox was the most exciting part of my day, and that was just when I was a bored college student, procrastinating on some midterm paper and hoping for a card or letter from my long-distance sweetheart. And as much as I might hate seeing bills or junk mail, it was still nice to see
something in that little box.
This time of year mail can be pretty boring. With no major shopping events on the horizon, catalogs have slowed down, and there's no hope for any more Christmas cards and New Year's letters, even from the worst procrastinators among my friends.
The January bills and all tax information and papers have arrived, and most mail is now just a small sprinkling of credit card offers and local coupons.
I know some people chart the seasons by the mail they receive. I'm not a gardener, but my more green-thumbed friends tell me for them, the surest sign offspring is not the robin, but the arrival of the new seed catalogs.
So whatever blessing your mailbox may hold for you or have ever held, how about a quick note today so that some 19 year old kid, sitting in a tent somewhere, can have something to look forward to?