There are a few things in life I love to do every day. Besides the obvious eating, sleeping, reading the news, and bathing, getting the mail is on that list. I’m a mail fanatic. Like a bloodhound with a ribeye in the air, I can sense when the mail is close to being delivered.
As a kid, the mail always came after I got home from school, so the job of bringing it inside provided an opportunity to feed my interests from an early age. Not much changed in thirty years. Even in college, when friends were either studying or heading for a watering hole, I’d wait behind in my dorm, chomping at the bit to see what arrived in my mail cubby. Today, I still keep a sharp eye pointed toward the road to see when the mail comes each day.
Now in the digital age with emails, texts, FaceTime, and Zoom, the volume of physical mail has diminished. As a grownup, most of the mail is bills and junk mail, so I don’t exactly mind less mail nowadays. I’m sad that my kids don’t get to experience as much mail as I did at their age.
Because of this, I fully support the art-making stations located within the large galleries featuring What Might You Do? The Art of Christian Robinson inviting visitors to decorate a postcard with art supplies and then bring it to Visitor Services for stamping and mailing to a recipient of their choice. For my kids, who don’t send or receive a bunch of mail, it’s a great experience for them to send postcards to their friends – and one to their dear old dad. They might even receive mail in return. Combined with Christian Robinson’s colorful, playful, and unassuming artwork, postcard creating makes for a great in-gallery activity for kids as well as adults during the winter season.
If anyone wants to send me a postcard, feel free. You know I’ll be checking the mailbox.
