I am writing to thank you for the kindness of several of your dedicated employees in my hometown of Edenton, North Carolina. My daughter set her sights, quite last minute, on being a mail carrier for her small elementary school’s “Storybook Character Day.” Having only one day to get this costume idea put together, there was no time for ordering or even traveling to a nearby large town to purchase a store bought ensemble. I shopped around our small town and came up with clothes that would do, but still lacked official postal looking details. I headed to our small post office.

I have always loved Morris, our mailman, and Beverly, a longtime familiar face at the front counter, who is courteous, pleasant, helpful and a stickler for the rules. She will never allow you to slip by without ensuring you don’t need stamps, supplies, or packaging tape. I gathered some of the free post office supplies available for customers so I could fashion a mailbag, name tag, and hat label. Perfect, I thought and then I paused, considering my daughter Blair.

Her place in our family of six is amongst three brothers, two older and one younger with special needs. She’s only seven, a first grader, and though she is my only daughter and the apple of her daddy’s eye, her mother (me) has often been too busy, overwhelmed and needed by her siblings, none as competent as she when it comes down to homework, making lunch, getting a shower, and just life in general. I have tried to be more aware of carving out my time and attention for my lovely little girl and in that moment, I thought to myself, I could be a mailman too.

I hesitated to ask Beverly for uniform items as I was quite sure there were rules prohibiting this, but I did it anyway. She thought a second and said that she had a hat at home and she would be happy to get it on her lunch break. Come back after 1:30pm, she instructed me and when I returned, I found the perfect postman sun hat as well as a blue button down shirt. In addition, she had called our family’s mailman, Morris, and in his eagerness to help, he had dropped off his carrier bag, on his day off, for me to use. My daughter and I would match for Storybook Character Day at school and I knew her heart would be ecstatic.

I just wanted you to know what is happening at your office in Edenton, NC. I’m not sure if you receive too many compliments, butI am trying to be better about that myself. I am sure there are some rules that were bent for my daughter and me, but the gesture of kindness meant the world to us. I am reminded to appreciate living in a town where people know one another and go out of their way to be kind. Our day at school was quite a hit and I am so thankful that you run an agency that employs folks that care about families and schools and did beyond their very best to make two people very happy.

Sincerely, Adrian H. Wood