Random Surprise

I opened my mailbox last night after getting home from work and found a package hiding underneath all the junk mail. A rush of excitement ran straight through my body. I love getting mail which doesn’t contain bills or unsolicited advertisements. I have to say one of the top things that make my day full of sunshine is receiving fun things in the mailbox.

Upon further inspection I noted that my name was handwritten and I could tell that it was in my own handwriting, but from younger years. There was a date written right next to my name (February 11, 1991). I found the whole thing extremely intriguing.

I walked into my house, threw away the handful of junk mail and sat down at the kitchen table. I carefully opened the mystery package. I pulled out six letter sized pages. The first page contained a letter from my Sophomore (and Senior) year high school English teacher. She explained the rest of the contents of the package. Our Sophomore year we had just completed a study of the novel “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” in which the protagonist put together a small box of mementoes. She had assigned us to put together a similar set of keepsakes which in turn she was going to keep and mail to us in ten years (she admitted that it had been well over fourteen).

I turned to the next page to find a letter I had written to myself about some current events and goals that I had. Needless to say, life has not turned out exactly as I had planned at the tender age of fifteen. Turning through the pages I also found my favorite saying (“No matter what your past has been, you have a spotless future”), a yellow bow that stood for peace in the Middle East, my school picture that year (scary), and a lock of my hair. The last page was the poem “O Captain, My Captain” by Walt Whitman.

That was one of the best pieces of mail that I have received. It had long been forgotten. As I re-read the letter I had written myself I really contemplated the differences in where I thought my life would be and where I actually am. What a blessing to know that mind sets, attitudes about what is important, education, career, location, ect., ect., ect. all can change from what we originally plan. That, to me, is just more proof that if we follow the path that our Heavenly Father leads us down, we end up being in exactly all the right situations that make us truly happy, but usually far off the path that we had planned for ourselves in our limited capacity to see in front of us.

I hope that everyone gets random mail every once in a while to make you smile!