First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

My wife and I hardly ever receive mail. Of course we receive packages. Things we’ve ordered online or gifts that people have sent to us. Sometimes the odd publisher will send a book or two. But we don’t receive snail mail. Like actual notices or bills neatly folded and stuffed in envelopes. Or even traffic fines. Those just get stuck on our window for ridiculous things like parking in the wrong spot, when actually it should be a perfectly fine spot. One thing that comes in the mail is our New Yorker magazine subscription but those are wrapped in plastic. Anyway, it’s for this reason that our postbox in the foyer of our apartment building doesn’t have a lock and we never bother to look inside it.

People just don’t mail things anymore. I, for example, used to get my Vodacom bill SMSed to me and everything else is emailed. Wedding invitations, birthday cards, “I’m sorry for your loss” cards. Most of the time they’re not even cards. It’s not like people take the time to use free services on the internet to design stuff and then send it to you, so when I use the word cards, what I actually mean is a couple of sentences on email or a few lines to wish you happy birthday on Whatsapp.

And I get it. Why would you post stuff by snail mail when you can have people receive messages immediately? More than that, have you been to a post office lately? They’re understaffed, it takes forever to buy a stamp and then you have to stand back in line to have them add it to the “outgoing” basket. Also, cards are so expensive. The average birthday card costs about R60. R60? No thanks. Who wants to count pennies when you can disregard megabytes?

Well, as it turns out, there are some people. Earlier this week, for some strange reason my wife decided to open our frail, worn-out, unmaintained postbox door and check if we received anything and … we did. And no, it wasn’t some random pamphlet from an estate agency or a car service provider. This was actual mail, two envelopes, addressed to us as a family, one red and one white, and from two different friends. One was delivered from the UK and had a beautiful but strange Catholic- inspired stamp and the red envelope was delivered from the States. To be completely honest, our kid got hold of that envelope before I could examine the stamp so I didn’t get a good look at it. But oh, the joy.

The joy of a nostalgia that isn’t nauseating but rather heart-warming and endearing. The joy of tearing open something that a friend has licked and made the effort to send to you with a personal message on the inside in their very own penmanship. It was endearing and lovely and arrived two-and-a-half months late. They were Christmas cards. But who the hell cares that they didn’t arrive on time. It’s the thought that counts. And the thought was that it was completely worth it, we were completely worth it for these friends to go through the effort of selecting a card, thinking of a message, writing it down, slipping it in an envelope and seeing to all the admin at the post office to send it to us. I didn’t even know people posted Christmas cards anymore.

My wife and I have had the most stressful week. Our bodies have not reacted well. We are basically living off antispasmodics for the knots in our bellies, constantly tangling themselves at the thought of more and more work but you know what, I can honestly say that upon receiving those cards I was transported to a time when things were simple, stress was less and love was more. And I can’t promise this, but I think you might get the same feeling if you send someone one as well. So instead of popping another chill pill, post a card instead. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for free to Pick n Pay Smart Shoppers at these Pick n Pay stores.