Our mailbox is at the top of our driveway. We live on a quiet, non-county maintained road. Well, it's hardly a road, but the one-laneness and bumps suit us. It seems like a natural barrier to the outside world. Our mailman is our friend, and he just dipped down to chat with me today and tell me about the number of thefts in the neighborhood and break-ins to houses, and mail stolen right out of mailboxes in the middle of the day. It seems there is a couple who is a team and she hides in the bushes, and he goes into the houses, quick as can be. One house was broken into in the twenty minutes the woman was picking up her children from school.
He said we should definitely get a locked mailbox. Imagine that. We've lived here thirty years and never considered a mailbox that locked. It seems there are many different kinds, so he went through what would work best for him and for us. It seems sad to me somehow to need a mailbox with a lock. It is one more letting go.
My niece Katy sent me a Valentine's Day card that has a heart with a peace sign in it. It says peace & love.
The card is a "grow-a-note" so I plant it and flowers come: Gaillardia, Catchfly, Siberian Wallflower, Chinese Houses, and Baby Blue-Eyes.
Dave brings me Katy's card and the news of theft. He has been our mailman for the whole thirty years we've been here. When there is a substitute, the mail comes much later. Dave is very efficient, even with his stops to chat. He grew up in the area and says he used to know everyone and patrol the area. In the past he would stop and question anyone he didn't recognize, to ensure they were legitimately here, but now there are many strangers walking around, and most likely they are legitimate, and yet, the number of crimes in this small area in the last three weeks is staggering. They are in and out in three minutes, grabbing, lap-tops, jewelry, cash. We agreed that if they steal any boxes from my mailbox they will be disappointed in the subject matter of the books I buy, and I can probably buy them back at a local swap meet, and so it goes. Letting go. I had recently moved my laptop to an obscure place recognizing how easy it would be to snatch. Perhaps a little more of a disguise is in order. It is a balance of attachment and letting go.