4 Cent Stamp - March 22 2022

 

4 Cent Stamp

March 22 2022

My mother saves things.

While I'm a minimalist.

I'm not sentimental

and dislike clutter,

so throwing stuff out

is my default.

But when she was compelled to downsize

I found myself bequeathed the many treasures

that all these years

had been gathering dust.

Among them is a postcard

from summer camp,

hand written

in laboured cursive,

a young queen

on its 4 cent stamp.

Why it was saved

I don't know —

whatever I wrote

was not worth remembering.

In fact, I suspect we were instructed to send them,

reassuring worried parents

surprising some.

A postcard

from so long ago

from my younger self.

Now, my life is more like a letter,

an ongoing story

where the past is present

and there's a narrative core.

Which leads me to wonder

if I'd be better off

living my life in postcards;

small self-contained moments

enjoyed for what they are.

No story.

No set path.

No worrying about the future,

no rumination or brooding

on what had gone before.

Just a still photograph

and a breezy note

and a promise to write more.

All of me

invested fully

in this exact time and place;

the exquisite present

where the smallest thing

is worth recording for posterity

and sharing with someone close.

Wish you were here, I'd say

and mean every word.