No Mail Today

Regardless of all the tourists and campers and sidewalk shoppers, Door County is still very rural.  There are Cherry orchards and dairy farms off the beaten path, at every turn in the road.  That’s the fun of bumming around on the backroads because you get a window on what life was like in the not very distant past.  In fact, even with the internet and Facebook that is available to everyone, the mail is delivered the old fashioned way; somebody leaning out of a truck, stuffing your copy of Field and Stream into a rusty mailbox.  I suspect that people like it that way because they like something to look forward to, a surprise, and unexpected letter from good friend.  Walking out to the mailbox is a time-honored ritual that feels right especially when you catch the mailman just as he is filling your box with sales flyers.  He knows you…he knows your mailbox with its individual touch.  This may be a connection that you take for granted, but believe me your mailman doesn’t.  This is more than a job because he knows how important that friendly wave is as he heads on down the road. This is the rural life, comfortable and dependable, and a link to the past that is uncomplicated and valued.