By Neal Lemery
Like many heart-warming events, it came together quickly. My simple errand of mailing some Christmas cards turned into a special community event, which grew in popularity and provided much needed community joy.
It was the first morning after several days of hard, often thunderous rain, a “weather event” that had kept most of us homebound, flooded in. There was even a few patches of blue in today’s morning sky. My Alaskan friends would call that bit of blue a “sucker hole”. On the drive in to town, I had rediscovered the “off” setting on my windshield wipers.
I took a breath of the suddenly rain-empty hour and dashed into the post office, a bundle of cards in hand, headed to the outgoing mail slot. My usual path was blocked by at least three gaggles of fellow postal patrons, their own mailings in hand. They quickly formed a noisier group, their laughter contagious and drawing in everyone else in the lobby.
No one moved. And no one seemed to care that we weren’t moving, that our errands were stopped in their tracks.
The lobby was filled with chatter, everyone talking at once, the room filled with tales of flood waters, postponed events, and merriment, as old friends exchanged news and holiday greetings. Busy schedules were forgotten as people smiled at each other, laughed, and caught up on the news.
My path to the mail slot was blocked, and no one seemed to care that I had important business to take care of. I paused, too, adding my laughter and smiles to the group that had spontaneously formed, becoming a boisterous mob of merrymakers and holiday cheer. We were long lost souls who had found their mojo in the post office lobby.
I looked over to the line of customers mailing packages, their faces smiling as they also carried on their conversations with their fellow patrons laden with packages. The diligent postal clerks joined them in smiles, laughter, and good-hearted holiday greetings. Whatever urgent errands needed to get done, all that could wait. There was visiting and catching up to do. This was community, and that’s what we are doing now, being communal, being in the holiday spirit. Like the rest of us, I suddenly had no other place I needed to be.
As if on cue from some invisible organizer, the flash mob dissipated. The news and greetings had been delivered, discussed, and savored, and it was time to get back to work, back to the errand list on this thankfully dry morning. Our hearts were filled now with the joy and solace of well wishes and community ties, the community web now rewoven and strengthened with love and compassion.
My big smile now matched my neighbors, our “flash mob” brightening our day, a memory of a magical holiday moment.
Books: NEW book – Recharging Ourselves, Building Community: Rural Voices for Hope and Change; Finding My Muse on Main Street, Homegrown Tomatoes, and Mentoring Boys to Men