•7:22 AM
I spent the first 31 years of my life in the shadow of New Y*rk C*ty. That is, if you were to drive up on a ridge in my town and look to the southeast, you could see the entire Manh*ttan Skyline on a clear day. The Big Apple was probably 20 or 25 miles away, as the crow flies. Yet, our town (called a "borough" in New Jers*y) was relatively small, and had a population of under 10,000. It shared a post office with the neighboring borough. And any of our trips to the post office were of a small town nature. My dad was a collector of stamps, so this meant we were there often. We waited with him on short lines of five people or less. We had plenty of time to look around the room, poring through huge zip code directories and studying the Wanted posters. It had a creaky squeaky door with a jingle bell fastened to it at Christmas time. Some of the people either knew my dad by name, or at least by sight.
When I moved to my present state, I, too, moved into the shadow of a big city, just like where I grew up. Except now things are more urbanized. Things are bigger: shall I say, more "consolidated". Banks, shopping centers, and post offices are built for big crowds. There are huge parking lots, and widely sweeping driveways with multiple entrances and exits off a road that may be a six lane or more "street". Yes, in our area, roads that would be called highways anywhere else are simply "streets". Post offices can be hugh urban centers, with multiple long lines of people waiting, and post office stores on the other side of the waiting areaallowing you to purchase interesting products with postage stamps as the theme. There are massive adjoining rooms with p.o. boxes lining them, many vending machines for stamps, and even do-it-yourself package weighing and posting machines.
So one of the benefits of living in our small rural hamlet of 2,800 people is our tiny little post office. About three years ago, the Postal Service closed the tiny little post office of a neighboring town (to their profound disappointment!) but we still have our tiny little post office. So on Monday morning, when I went with my children to get Christmas stamps, we were greeted by a postal clerk who knows us and who sees us often. She rewarded our children with a ring of her bell for being "so good today". There was no line, only me, and a lady who came in after me. I had the time to pick out the stamps I wanted, and buy some 1 and 2 cent stamps to amend some older stamps I found in my kitchen cabinet (whose face value I didn't know, and had to ask). And yes, even the door squeaked and creaked, and had a jingle bell attached. And when I got over to the counter, I had time to calmly attach the stamps, including 1 and 2 cent-ers to my various pieces of mail, and the children gleefully took turns dropping the envelopes, one at a time, of course, into the "Out of Town" slots. After all, there is rarely a reason to drop much in the other slot. As we left the building, another incoming lady greeted us and held the door open for us.
I was thankful that I could deposit a little bit of "small town" into my children's memories, just like I have. Thanks to our tiny little post office.
When I moved to my present state, I, too, moved into the shadow of a big city, just like where I grew up. Except now things are more urbanized. Things are bigger: shall I say, more "consolidated". Banks, shopping centers, and post offices are built for big crowds. There are huge parking lots, and widely sweeping driveways with multiple entrances and exits off a road that may be a six lane or more "street". Yes, in our area, roads that would be called highways anywhere else are simply "streets". Post offices can be hugh urban centers, with multiple long lines of people waiting, and post office stores on the other side of the waiting areaallowing you to purchase interesting products with postage stamps as the theme. There are massive adjoining rooms with p.o. boxes lining them, many vending machines for stamps, and even do-it-yourself package weighing and posting machines.
So one of the benefits of living in our small rural hamlet of 2,800 people is our tiny little post office. About three years ago, the Postal Service closed the tiny little post office of a neighboring town (to their profound disappointment!) but we still have our tiny little post office. So on Monday morning, when I went with my children to get Christmas stamps, we were greeted by a postal clerk who knows us and who sees us often. She rewarded our children with a ring of her bell for being "so good today". There was no line, only me, and a lady who came in after me. I had the time to pick out the stamps I wanted, and buy some 1 and 2 cent stamps to amend some older stamps I found in my kitchen cabinet (whose face value I didn't know, and had to ask). And yes, even the door squeaked and creaked, and had a jingle bell attached. And when I got over to the counter, I had time to calmly attach the stamps, including 1 and 2 cent-ers to my various pieces of mail, and the children gleefully took turns dropping the envelopes, one at a time, of course, into the "Out of Town" slots. After all, there is rarely a reason to drop much in the other slot. As we left the building, another incoming lady greeted us and held the door open for us.
I was thankful that I could deposit a little bit of "small town" into my children's memories, just like I have. Thanks to our tiny little post office.
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1 comments:
Our tiny town consists of one block (and 2 stores with a total retail space of at least 1000 square feet and 3 parking places). The post office is in the basement of the town hall, and I have the great good fortune to live at the top of the hill, under 1/2 mile from there. I let my boys walk to the post office on Thursdays and Mondays, and they stop at the store for penny candy on the way home. There is a lot to be said for the memories which come from tiny little towns. I'm glad for your children that they, too, will have such memories!