Serendipity.

I have mentioned that I am involved in the Year of Giving Project, hosted by Mudflinginfools. The idea is simple: once a month send a greeting to your Year of Giving pal to brighten their day. I was in the 'late start' group last year, and while sometimes it was a challenge to get my act together to mail on time, it was a pure delight getting to know two new letterboxing friends: ThiaYack2 and Damselfly. What a pleasure! Not only did getting happy, positive mail make my days brighter, it also gave me a monthly focus: how to make my pal feel special and remembered. Many times in my life I have wondered which is more pleasurable - receiving or giving. I am still not sure.

As the year ended, I contemplated not continuing into 2022. We were to get new matches, and with going into the homestretch with my studies, I wasn't sure I wanted to add another responsibility. After thinking about it for a couple weeks, I felt more and more compelled to participate, both for me and my sanity (forced creativity!) and for my then-unknown new match. So, I signed on.

For this new round, I decided to get a jump on things, not like last year where I was scrabbling around every month putting things together! I set to planning and carving. I have had an absolute blast with all the creative juices flowing - even before the project started up again! In my preparation, I had to go to the small local post office to buy postage and see how much my planned packages would cost. Part of what made last year a bit challenging was getting to the post office each month; this year, I wanted to be able to do everything from home and simply slip things into the drive-up postal box instead of waiting in line and interacting with always overworked and often rushed (read: surly) postal employees. I managed to get the answer I was after and pick up some stamps that would facilitate avoidance of  'machining' - apparently there are special non-machinable stamps available that require more gentle handling. Perfect!

When the clerk presented me with the stamps, I was struck with familiarity. The stamps featured a beautiful purple-blue butterfly called a Colorado Hairstreak. Then it hit me - I had carved that very image years ago! As I got back into the car with Obimaster, I told him about the butterfly on the stamps and how I had carved the same image. I had given that stamp to a dear, departed letterboxer many of us knew as simply 'Pre.' 

Preboxed was a sweet, quirky, funny soul who was taken by cancer far too soon. Samsonite and I had the pleasure of meeting her, long ago, in Olympia when she was in the area on her travels. Since she was headed back to Colorado, I asked her to take the stamp to plant. She happily took the stamp; that was so long ago, I am positive it is long gone by now, but I always remembered that stamp attached to her.

Knowing my hesitance to do another Year of Giving, Obimaster remarked that Pre must be saying I made the right choice to participate - she was sending me a sign! That compelling feeling resurfaced and I knew I was doing the right thing by participating for another year.

Was Pre sending me a sign from the netherworld? Perhaps. I do know this: we never know how we will touch the life and heart of others, nor how they will remember what we said and did in their presence. I have been touched and changed by many boxers I have known and loved over the years - some are still here, some are just sweet memories, like Pre. I have been sitting with this thought last night and today. 

meetin' with Pre in Olympia, '07