Post office blues

I have got to get to the Post Office! I haven't been in a few days. John has been picking up our mail, so it's not that I'm stressed about not getting another bill or a new Netflix movie. On Ocracoke, going to the Post Office is not only about getting your mail. It's probably not even mostly about getting your mail! Going to the Post Office is about catching up with your neighbors (chatting and sharing the latest news), and finding out what is going on on the island (the bulletin board always has postings about upcoming events). That's what I miss. I feel disconnected from the heartbeat of the community when I don't go to the Post Office for an extended period of time.

In the past on Ocracoke, the mail was brought over on a small mail boat (for a long time, that was how people visiting the island came over, too). When the mailboat came in, the community would gather at the docks and someone would "call the mail over" (that's Ocracoke-speak for announcing who the mail was for). If the person was present, he or she would step up to retrieve the letter, package, or whatever it was. If the addressee of the mail was not there, invariably a neighbor would offer to take the item and deliver it in person. This ritual happened at approximately the same time every day, and there are still folks on the island who consistently go to the post office at the same time each afternoon.

I often tell people the story of the first time I visited the island: I had only been here for about 20 minutes when I knew this was the place I wanted to call home. The rest of the story is that the final thing I saw which cemented that feeling in place (there had been several things in the 20 minutes of driving around, but this one was the topper) was the sign in the Post Office which said "the mail is IN". The sign spoke volumes to me about the community. That was before I knew the history of the daily gathering for mail distribution, but somehow the sign communicated the same sense of the Post Office as the center of daily life. Now that I live here, going to the Post Office is part of what keeps me centered. I'd better get over there soon!