Confessions of a Postcard Addict

I don't know when it started, but I'm pretty sure it's hereditary.

When my older brother went off to college, my mother would type recipes onto blank postcards she'd purchased at the post office.  The primary reason was to prevent him from starving while living in an apartment with three roommates.  But it also meant he had something in the mail besides bills.

Fast forward to when I went away to college, and spent four months in Europe, taking summer courses Monday to Thursday, and traveling on the weekends.  I discovered two things:

1. I could buy postcards for less than getting my photos printed - and they were better shots, because the photographer had access to the best angles under ideal photographic conditions; and 
2. Postcard stamps were a lot cheaper than regular air mail stamps.  One of my friends took me to buy a superfine pen, which enabled me to write super small and cram as many words onto the postcard home to my parents.  (It would be a few decades before I understood how hard it was to read small type once your eyes passed 40.)

Over the year, I continued to buy postcards of the places we went.  They came in handy when I took up scrapbooking.  Again, the postcard photographers could get better shots than I could.  

When my oldest son went away to college, I started sending postcards once or twice a week, so he'd have something in the mail.  (Later, he and his roommate both became photographers; his roommate, Kevin Russ, now sells beautiful postcards.)

I almost did the same thing when my second son went away to Marine Corps bootcamp;, but I was warned off by other Marine moms who suggested it was best not to give the drill sergeants any reason to single out my recruit.  A few years later when he deployed, I found  a set of "Star Wars" postcards.  I wanted to make sure he heard his name at every mail call. While I could send him e-mails, it wasn't the same as knowing he would hold something in his hand that I had sent.

As each child left home, I continued sending postcards a couple times a week - so they'd have something in the mail besides bills, and they'd know I was thinking of them.  Today I send postcards to five adult children, three grandchildren, my mother, sister-in-law and best friend from fifth grade.  

Some signs that I'm addicted to postcards?

1. Before I leave on a trip, I check my files to see if I have one from that location so I can pre-address and stamp postcards to send while I'm at that location.  (I usually do.)
2. I call ahead to the local Wal-Mart to see if they have postcards.
3. I have no idea how much postcard stamps cost, because I ask my husband to pick up a 100-stamp roll at the post office.  
4. My husband knows he can propose any day trip, as long as there are postcards involved.
5. When I'm checking in on Yelp, I note whether the establishment sells postcards.
6. At check-out, I let the other customers go ahead of me since the clerk will be counting out dozens - if not hundreds - of postcards.
7. I swap postcards with other postcard friends around the world.
8. When my friends downsize, they know exactly where to send their old postcards.

This blog will be about travel - and postcards.  Follow me, and grab your 34-cent stamps!