The Pony Express...

Today is the anniversary of the “First Mail Delivery Day” delivered via Pony Express in 1860 when a westbound rider arrived in Sacramento, CA from St. Joseph, MO.  It took approximately 10 days of hard riding for the mail to be delivered by a band of men, a stable full of horses with many stops along the way for the 1900 mile ride.

 

And now here we are 154 years later with the US Post Office in dire financial stress, with hints of discontinuing Saturday deliveries and to be honest most times my mailbox is cluttered with unwanted “junk” material.  The art of handwritten letters is too almost gone.  Very few cards or letters ever grace my mailbox, but when they do, it is always a delight.  Thank you notes have now become a quick text or email for many.  Granted technology has made great strides in communications, but sometimes I miss those “bread and butter” letters where you could sit and read about the latest news from a family member or an old college friend. 

Last night I spent a delightful evening with my good friend, Marti where we attended a night with Ben Vereen.  You remember Ben Vereen don’t you?, a great song and dance man, but definitely from an earlier era.  As he told stories and tidbits from his past, he relayed one where he referred to receiving a telegram.  The audience giggled, and then in the same story he mentioned record albums, record players and cassettes.  Words that are not even in our vocabulary today, and most young people have never heard of “telegrams”.   Their telegram is simply a “text” via their phones.  Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for moving forward and new technology (altho I have to admit it moves too fast for me at times), but sometimes a simple card or even a telephone call seems to add a more personal touch.  Can you imagine waiting 10 days via pony express to hear of a birth or a death, no I can’t. So hurrah for the strides we have made in instant notifications, but my hats off to those pony express riders who braved tough trails to bring those much wanted letters from loved ones.  

And by the way ....none of the images have anything to do with the story, just some I had not posted from my Charleston trip.  Hope the week a head is indeed a fulfilled one.  A grace filled Holy Week to my Christian friends and a blessed Passover Week to my Jewish friends.   

"The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience."  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Until next time.....