Me too. Sent a postcard to a friend, “Hey Bob, The weather is here, wish you were beautiful. -Sitnam”. I haven’t seen him in awhile so he might fall for it for awhile, but no matter what he’ll be the only one he knows with a postcard from there.
Years ago when Colbert Report was selling Ted Cruz’s Don’t Be Gay coloring books and I sent one to my liberal parents. It was worth it for the phone call I got from them just by itself, they thought they were on some GOP mailing list despite the 30 blue signs on their front lawn every election. Those moments are priceless.
Gee, I get a lot of (pleasant) surprises in the mail. Many catalogs: seeds, plants, Lehman’s (amish homesteading supply), chicken hatcheries, vet supplies, goat supplies, horse supplies, garden tools, Vermont Country Store, Duluth … just lots. A very few subscription magazines – I go in and out of these, most recently Horse, Fine Gardening, Smithsonian, New York Review of Books. Chatty reports from the various organizations I donate to or belong to – the Livestock Conservancy, a monastery, my local food bank, historical society, etc. Many of these as well.
And then, I write LETTERS to people. Because I enjoy the act of writing (I’m a fountain pen geek). I used to have a wide correspondence but most of these people are are now dead. I think I only physically write to four people regularly now. However, they write back, and getting real letters in the mail is always a lovely surprise.
Getting my mail and most of my packages requires driving three miles to the town post office, so it is a tiny adventure in and of itself. We buy a majority of objects not food or animal feed via mail order, so there’s very often a box or two waiting as well.
Presently I am composing my annual hand-written, illustrated (with pen and ink) Christmas letter, which quite a few people have told me is the only one they look forward to. Only maybe a third of the forty-odd people write back, but it’s fun to get those too.
I can’t say it’s a surprise since it comes every year, but it’s usually in January and it arrived yesterday.
I not only participate at Burning Man, I volunteer and the department I work for sends a thank you card that has been signed by some of my fellow volunteers in the department* plus a souvenir ticket.
As part of the staff we get an RFID wristband instead of needing a paper ticket and they are works of art, embossed and foil-stamped to cut down on counterfeit tickets. The cards are sent in a bundle to various locations around the country where signing parties are held. I have participated in some of these but was unable to make it this year.
