My cousin Jane had an Estate sale. After all was said and done, a lifetime of postcards sat stuffed in a double wide shoe box at the end of a very lonely table. They intrigued me. I'm a traveler and a lover of writing. And yet, writing a postcard never even occurred to me while we were in Panama this year. It occurred to Carlo in 1979. Carlo, that sounds like the romantic name of a real traveler. And indeed it is. How do I know? I know because I decided the box of memories that was destined for the trash bin, just might turn out to be one woman's treasure.
I took home that lonely, overstuffed box and discovered that Carlo got around!
My photo of the Bridge of the Americas from January 2016.
My photo of the Panama Canal in 2016.
Writing postcards is such a lost art. I blame the government. 49 cent stamps? Gasp. Even Carlo might have walked right by the mailbox shaking his head. When I started sorting through Jane's dusty stack, I discovered postcards mailed for 5 cents. Or even less! The good old days. So, other than penny stamps, what did I discover? Where has she been? Who were her pen pals? And where in the world did these pals mail their cards from? Istanbul? Yup. Brazil? Yes, you can bet your bikini there was one. Mexico? Si. But where did most of the postcards hail from? Right here in the states. Vegas, baby.
I even discovered where most of Jane's friends and family stayed on their vacations. The Holiday Inn. Free postcards seemed to be a great advertising tool back in the day. They were hilariously retro too.
Sifting through Jane's cards got me thinking. She's not the only card carrying pack rat. I'm one too. It must run in the family. I've saved every card I've ever received. To think that someday, some weirdo like me might go through them. Well, someone exactly like me actually. I pulled my stack out of hiding and plan to sift through those as well.
Between my birthday cards and Jane's globe trotting trash, the future blogging possibilities seem endless. So stay tuned!
P.S. Stop back on or around March 26th for more creative writing from The Chorus of the Crows.
And be sure to stop by Springtime in Magnolia for my book review of Turn Here Sweet Corn.
4 comments:
I like reading other people's post cards from the past too. It's interesting to see the then and now photos.
I have a collection of cards that have been sent to me over the years. I call it my memento collection but now plenty of them are retro. How did that happen? Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. :-)
You make me wish I had a similar stack of postcards. I'm going to dig out the old photos this morning and see if I can find any. I don't think its the 49 cent stamps which have made us lose the art of writing postcards. I am pretty sure it is the internet. My cards were always to my mother so she knew we were okay. Once e-mail arrived there just wasn't any need.
I too save every card and letter! I am beginning to chuck some of them now as I get ready for the move. But there are so many I will definitely keep. Wouldn't postcards like Carlos's make a great little book! Maybe we should start looking in every bin of possible treasures in every flea market and see what we can come up with! :-) Well, after my move...I don't need EXTRA stuff now. :-)
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