A couple of weeks back (on October 30, 2019), the news contained a story titled “Man Receives Postcard He Sent Nearly 30 Years Ago”.
According to the article, a decorator in England was left stunned after he received a postcard he himself had sent to his parents while on holiday (vacation) in Spain - 28 years ago! Jim Green, who now lives in his parents' former home, was rifling through his mail earlier this month when he discovered a postcard from Benidorm dated September 1991.
Baffled, Jim, who is now 66, took a closer look and soon realized that it was a postcard sent from his former 39-year-old self to his parents letting them know he had arrived safely on his holiday.
The post card, dated September 12, 1991, read: “To Mum and Dad. Had a good flight over. Everything's ok. Good hotel, weather etc. Weather has been very hot. Hope cats are ok. Must close now, love Jim.”
The postcard arrived on Thursday morning, October 17, 2019. Jim, who now lives at the family home in Braintree, Essex, England, where he had addressed the post card so long ago, said his first thought as he picked up the card was: “Who is in Benidorm?” Then he looked at the date, and amazingly, realized it was 28 years late!
He says he soon recalled that he had written it to tell his parents that he had arrived in Benidorm safely. He further asserts that he can't really remember writing it; but knows that he would have sent it fairly early on in the holiday because they all got sick from the water and were incapacitated for a few days thereafter.
According to the article, generations of Jim's family have lived in the Essex neighborhood of Finchingfield since the mid-1800s. Jim lived with his parents before taking over the tenancy of the family house after his mother died five years ago. His father, Christopher, died in 1997. According to Jim, “My dad would have just said: ‘Well that's just the post for you!”
Although the surprise delivery certainly put a smile on Jim's face, he remains none the wiser as to why it appeared on his doormat so late. He added: “I don't know why it arrived after this length of time. Whether it got lost over there or whether it got lost over here, I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out why the delay was that long. I don't think we'll ever know what really happened. I think it would be pretty hard to trace it back.”
One particular statement made by Jim in the article was particularly intriguing to me. Speaking of his parents, he said, “They never really went abroad on holiday. They used to go to the seaside at Clacton or Maldon or go on coach trips. I think at the time there weren't many people that went away for holidays. I suppose it gave them an idea of what Benidorm looked like.” (Underlining emphasis mine.)
As a lover of history in general (and a sentimentalist at heart), I will admit that such stories have always interested me. I love to go back and read through old cards and letters from my own family’s past. They literally capture “moments in time”. And this is all the more true when you stumble upon a letter or postcard from the past that you yourself actually wrote!
But for my purposes in this blog post, please allow me to place a twist on this notion. If it is intriguing to get a letter, postcard, or note that you yourself wrote in the past, how much more so would it be to get a letter that you yourself might write in the future?! Just imagine getting a postcard from the edge of tomorrow and getting a glimpse of what the future looks like!
As I referenced in an earlier blog post on 09/17/20128 titled “NOTE TO SELF”, several years ago, my son, Micah, and I had lunch. At the time, he was 24 years old and gainfully employed in the financial services industry. But he was unhappy. The reason is that he really wanted to do something different with his life. He wanted to be a certified public accountant.
He then told me that if the 24 year old Micah could go back in time and gain the ear of the 18 year old Micah, he would tell him to stay true to his calling, to what he knew in his heart that he really wanted to do with his life. Thereafter, even though he had earlier graduated from college with a degree in Business Administration, he took control of his circumstances and went back to school and took the relevant accounting courses he needed before taking and ultimately passing his state accounting certification exams. And now, all these years later, he is indeed a gainfully employed and very successful certified public accountant.
All of this raises a significant question. If you (or I) could go back and communicate with your (or my) former self, either in person or in writing, what would you (or I) challenge yourself (or myself) to do differently? My suspicion is that, if we knew in advance where the path we were now on would ultimately lead, most all of us would likely make some change or changes in the current course of our lives!
Given this, why not even now begin to think (and act) like that person we would like to be in the future?! If we do, we might well find that the day comes when we look back at our former self and say, “Good job! Stay the course! You’ll be so glad you did!”
And any way you look at it, that is infinitely better than having to look back and say, “What were you thinking?! Why on earth did you not immediately stop what you were doing and take the necessary steps to change your (and my) future life?!”
STORY SOURCE: https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/postcard-28-years-later.
According to the article, a decorator in England was left stunned after he received a postcard he himself had sent to his parents while on holiday (vacation) in Spain - 28 years ago! Jim Green, who now lives in his parents' former home, was rifling through his mail earlier this month when he discovered a postcard from Benidorm dated September 1991.
Baffled, Jim, who is now 66, took a closer look and soon realized that it was a postcard sent from his former 39-year-old self to his parents letting them know he had arrived safely on his holiday.
The post card, dated September 12, 1991, read: “To Mum and Dad. Had a good flight over. Everything's ok. Good hotel, weather etc. Weather has been very hot. Hope cats are ok. Must close now, love Jim.”
The postcard arrived on Thursday morning, October 17, 2019. Jim, who now lives at the family home in Braintree, Essex, England, where he had addressed the post card so long ago, said his first thought as he picked up the card was: “Who is in Benidorm?” Then he looked at the date, and amazingly, realized it was 28 years late!
He says he soon recalled that he had written it to tell his parents that he had arrived in Benidorm safely. He further asserts that he can't really remember writing it; but knows that he would have sent it fairly early on in the holiday because they all got sick from the water and were incapacitated for a few days thereafter.
According to the article, generations of Jim's family have lived in the Essex neighborhood of Finchingfield since the mid-1800s. Jim lived with his parents before taking over the tenancy of the family house after his mother died five years ago. His father, Christopher, died in 1997. According to Jim, “My dad would have just said: ‘Well that's just the post for you!”
Although the surprise delivery certainly put a smile on Jim's face, he remains none the wiser as to why it appeared on his doormat so late. He added: “I don't know why it arrived after this length of time. Whether it got lost over there or whether it got lost over here, I don't know. I'm still trying to figure out why the delay was that long. I don't think we'll ever know what really happened. I think it would be pretty hard to trace it back.”
One particular statement made by Jim in the article was particularly intriguing to me. Speaking of his parents, he said, “They never really went abroad on holiday. They used to go to the seaside at Clacton or Maldon or go on coach trips. I think at the time there weren't many people that went away for holidays. I suppose it gave them an idea of what Benidorm looked like.” (Underlining emphasis mine.)
As a lover of history in general (and a sentimentalist at heart), I will admit that such stories have always interested me. I love to go back and read through old cards and letters from my own family’s past. They literally capture “moments in time”. And this is all the more true when you stumble upon a letter or postcard from the past that you yourself actually wrote!
But for my purposes in this blog post, please allow me to place a twist on this notion. If it is intriguing to get a letter, postcard, or note that you yourself wrote in the past, how much more so would it be to get a letter that you yourself might write in the future?! Just imagine getting a postcard from the edge of tomorrow and getting a glimpse of what the future looks like!
As I referenced in an earlier blog post on 09/17/20128 titled “NOTE TO SELF”, several years ago, my son, Micah, and I had lunch. At the time, he was 24 years old and gainfully employed in the financial services industry. But he was unhappy. The reason is that he really wanted to do something different with his life. He wanted to be a certified public accountant.
He then told me that if the 24 year old Micah could go back in time and gain the ear of the 18 year old Micah, he would tell him to stay true to his calling, to what he knew in his heart that he really wanted to do with his life. Thereafter, even though he had earlier graduated from college with a degree in Business Administration, he took control of his circumstances and went back to school and took the relevant accounting courses he needed before taking and ultimately passing his state accounting certification exams. And now, all these years later, he is indeed a gainfully employed and very successful certified public accountant.
All of this raises a significant question. If you (or I) could go back and communicate with your (or my) former self, either in person or in writing, what would you (or I) challenge yourself (or myself) to do differently? My suspicion is that, if we knew in advance where the path we were now on would ultimately lead, most all of us would likely make some change or changes in the current course of our lives!
Given this, why not even now begin to think (and act) like that person we would like to be in the future?! If we do, we might well find that the day comes when we look back at our former self and say, “Good job! Stay the course! You’ll be so glad you did!”
And any way you look at it, that is infinitely better than having to look back and say, “What were you thinking?! Why on earth did you not immediately stop what you were doing and take the necessary steps to change your (and my) future life?!”
STORY SOURCE: https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/postcard-28-years-later.