Today: Riding Mass Transit And Freezing My Face Off. Don't Underestimate The Power Of A Kind Word. Youth Christmas Party.

I've taken to riding mass public transportation for my daily commute.

Mostly I think it's awesome.  I used to ride the bus a lot when I was a kid, so it's something that's familiar to me.  Saturday plans usually consisted of hopping onto the bus to go hang out at the local mall.

I'm not entirely sure how my parents were okay with this, but the said mall also held a dollar theater so I was pretty much set for the Saturday for less than five bucks.  I also rode the bus clear into downtown a few times when my mom worked there to meet her for a lunch date.

I was telling Brynn about this, and she thought it was pretty cool and started getting excited about the possibilities of trax/bus riding, but then I had to emphasize that this was before we had to worry so much about people kidnapping kids.  To which Brynn replied, "Kidnappers suck.  They ruin everything."

I would have to agree with that statement.

Normally if I catch a certain timed train, it arrives at my stop at the very time that the bus leaves.  So I hop off trax and get right onto the bus which takes me pretty much to the end of the street that my office building sits on.

Except today that bus decided to pull away right as the trax train came up to the station.

I watched it pull away through the window with a dropped jaw.

Over and over my co-workers have told me to call them and they'll come pick me up from the trax station.  But I don't feel like my decision to ride trax should become their problem.  Especially once I figured out that I can also take the bus and end up within a five minute walk from the office.

So I got of trax, pulled my coat close around me, and started walking.  It's only a 20-30 minute walk, and there's sidewalks the entire way so it's really not a big deal.  Except it was 30 degrees this morning.

Halfway through my walk my face lost all feeling.

I broke down and called a co-worker.  "Are you at work?"

"Yes..."

"Have you guys left on your morning drink run yet?"

"No.  Do you want one?"

"How about you leave right now for your drink run and pick me up while you're at it."

Done and done.

They chewed me out for not calling them earlier.  And then made fun of how red my ears were.

Stupid bus driver for not waiting a whole 3 minutes for the trax to stop so I could get on his bus.

Seriously.

I think this will be a smoother process in the summer when I won't mind if I end up walking, because it won't be cold enough to make my face fall off.

Also, today I sent out a round of cards and notes for the Snail Mail Society.

Honestly, I don't think we can ever underestimate the power of a kind word.

Do you need a kind word?  Do you know of someone else who needs a kind word?  Are you willing to send a kind word to someone who needs it?  Send an email to hellosnailmailsociety @ gmail.com for how you can get involved on either side of that project.

The stories that come in for why people would like letters sent are heart touching.

And to round out the day we held our Christmas party with the youth of my church.  We played this game with them,  but we're mean leaders so we made them start our a few rounds with gloves on, which was hilarious, and then did a round of white elephant gifts.

We gave a $1 limit so the gifts are usually pretty funny.  I've learned, though, that I need to start aiming for Caitlyn's gift.  Two years in a row now she's simply wrapped up a dollar.  It's genius.  That's a McD's Coke just waiting to happen.

Next year.

Snail Mail Society

I was quite the letter writer, back in the day.

Back when all my friends had trickled off this way and that for church missions, college, or armed forces.

I don't know what it is about receiving an unexpected letter or card in the mail, but it trumps everything.

Happy dance on the sidewalk.

You know what I'm saying.

Over the years email has become mainstream communication, but it still doesn't quite add up to level of excitement of a hand written note in the mailbox.  Aside from the email I received from The Man as our very first communication:

"Hi there, I've been wanting to send you an introduction but I can never think of just what to say.  So what the hey... hello :).ha ha.

Hope to hear from you soon."

He has a way with words, doesn't he? (Full story on how we met here).   He had me hook, line, and sinker.

So aside from that, some of my most precious words have been received through the snail mail system.  I keep them in a drawer in my dresser and refer back to the kind and loving things that were written to me by family, friends, and neighbors over the years.

It's like a piece of them straight to my heart.

Over the past year I've done a couple of posts saying if anyone needed a "pick me up" to like or comment on the status and I would say something I liked about them.  Because sometimes you just need to hear a kind word.  The posts have always been well received and I've been so grateful to tell my friends and family there on facebook how much I love and admire them.  We often complain how much is lost through social media, but I feel these types of posts bring a little something back in way of a renewed connection.

The point of this post is 1. snail mail is cool, and 2. everyone likes the hear a kind word every now and then.

Megan, of Brassy Apple, is amazing.

Hands down.

And she's created the Snail Mail Society.  Go ahead and go read her post on it.

Essentially, we're bringing back snail mail in a way that will spread kind words.

It's a win/win situation.

I'm so excited to be a part of it.

We need people who would like to sign up to write at least one letter a month to someone.

We also need people who are in need of a kind word, whether it's yourself or someone you know.

Pretty easy, yeah?

Please email:

HelloSnailMailSociety@gmail.com and specify if you’d like to join or recieve a letter.

If you are joining, you will be emailed more information including a small list of “rules” about how it works to be a member!

If you are requesting a letter please send your mailing address!

You can peek into some of the Snail Mail Society happenings by searching the hashtag - #snailmailsociety .

If this isn't for you, that's okay, but perhaps you wouldn't mind Megan's introduction so we can spread the word and fill it with kind words.