Tonight's picture was taken in January of 2006. This was so typical of Mattie. He built something out of Legos and then decided to use it to step on it to reach up and grasp at things. There was no telling exactly what Mattie would do with this piece of Legos that he stacked together. But chances was, it wasn't going to be used for ordinary purposes. With Mattie you always had to think OUTSIDE THE BOX. That was what kept you on your toes constantly! It was mentally challenging and physically exhausting. Mattie had energy for five children and he never needed to nap or have down time. He had two modes...... very on and off.
Quote of the day: I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ~ Maya Angelou
Peter and I LOVE this quote. I have even heard Peter use it during our presentations. This week when I went back to our post office where our Foundation PO Box is located, I had an amazingly pleasant surprise. My favorite postal worker, Darryl, is back working at our branch! This may not seem like a huge deal, but it truly is!!! Darryl is outstanding, and honestly if the post office could clone him, everyone would want to do business with the US Post Office. He is customer focused, super friendly, helps you with packages, is patient, and he does this with all of his customers. He has a fan club, of which I am one. Let me put him into context for you.
In prior years, I would do a mass mailing for the Foundation every December. In my mailing I would send out a bulky envelope which included something like a pen. However, to ship a pen, I would need to put that in a padded envelope which would require special postage and also to assure that the pen wouldn't get damaged or broken, the envelope needed to be hand canceled at the post office rather than processed through a machine. If it would go through a machine, the machine could potentially crush the pens and then there would be the end of my mass mailing..... I would have a very poorly looking fundraiser/annual drive going out to donors.
Darryl understood this, so you know what he would do with me? He would help me put stamps on all 500 envelopes and also hand cancel every single envelope right in front of me. I can assure you this was laborious especially over a mail counter, since I wasn't allowed behind the counter. Since this occurred during December, there were lines at the post office. Yet Darryl would help me and also process people behind me at the same time so they wouldn't get mad. There would be mountains of my envelopes everywhere! You couldn't help but notice me! I was a conversation piece for everyone who came into the post office some years. Lots of people talked to me and felt badly because they thought some company put me to work doing holiday cards and the office mass mailing. Little did they know, this mass mailing was self inflicted! In any case, Darryl assisted me with the Foundation mass mailing for years! Then one day, I noticed Darryl's place in the post office was cleaned out and he was gone. I asked all his colleagues where he went, but no one gave me a straight answer. I was devastated. I missed his kindness, his cheery disposition, and most of all I knew when he was there our Foundation was in good hands. He looked out for our mailbox!
After Darryl left, I had to change our whole December mass mailing process, because there was NO ONE else at the post office who would help me with stamps or hand canceling envelopes. Which is why when I saw Darryl back at his post this week, YEARS later, I was stunned. He came from behind the counter to hug me. I told him I missed him and don't you know he asked how my mass mailing had been going since he left! So I told him!!! Needless to say, I took my Mattie Miracle awareness pin off my coat, and gave it him. Darryl likes to wear pins on his tie, so I felt he need our pin. I told him he helped me raise a great deal of money year after year, and I couldn't have done it without his help! When I came into the post office today..... he still had the pin on which I gave him earlier this week!!!
Darryl is the perfect example of Angelou's quote, because I never forgot how he made me feel after all these years. But I am NOT alone. Before Darryl left the post office, he had a memory board up at his work station of customers who wrote him notes, gave him photos, and so forth. He is that lovable! We live in a world where so many people think how we treat each other doesn't matter, that our feelings for one another are fleeting and meaningless, but I would say quite on the contrary. At the end of the day it is feelings that linger.... they are tantamount and carry us through the storm.
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