 “Good afternoon, Miss Bumpers,” I greeted
with a wave as the elderly lady made her way to the curb with an air of happy
anticipation.
“Hello,” she replied, opening the creaking rusty door
of an empty mailbox.
“Oh my,” Miss Bumpers said with sudden
disappointment.
“Expecting something?” I asked.
“I was
hoping a letter would come today. Oh well, it looks like it won’t be here for
Christmas,” she sighed as she walked dejectedly back to her front door and
disappeared into her small well-kept house.
“Wonder what that’s all
about?” I thought, noticing another neighbor approaching on the
sidewalk.
“Hi, Sandy, Merry Christmas,” I
acknowledged.
“Merry Christmas to you too,” she
replied.
“Hey, what’s up with Miss Bumpers?” I asked. “She seemed
really down when she checked her mailbox and nothing was
there.”
“Oh, you probably don’t know about her, since you just moved
here a few weeks ago,” Sandy answered.
“Miss Bumpers’ husband passed
away several years ago and she went into an emotional tailspin,” Sandy
explained. “The person you bought your house from would send her a Christmas
letter every year after that, saying some encouraging things to lift her
spirits. It became a tradition she looked forward to since she has no family
around here.”
“So, she’s still waiting for this year’s letter,” I
surmised.
“Yes,” Sandy answered. “A few months after he moved into a
nursing home, he passed away. He always typed the letter and signed it ‘A
Friend’ so she never knew who it was from. I didn’t have the heart to tell her
what had happened to him.”
“And there is no one to send that letter
now,” I confirmed.
“Kind of sad,” Sandy frowned. “Well, I’ve got to
go. It’s starting to get dark. We are having a Christmas Eve dinner and I have
to get everything ready.”
“OK, Merry Christmas,” I said, turning
back toward my house.
As I walked up the front steps to my Christmas
adorned porch I looked over at Miss Bumpers’ house and noticed one lonely light
on inside. Looking around at our outdoor Christmas decorations I was reminded of
the joy and happiness of the season and how exciting Christmas was growing up as
a child.
After pausing a moment I opened the front door and went
inside.
 “It’s getting cold out there,” I advised as I entered the
family room, noticing my young son and daughter next to our lighted six-foot
Christmas tree.
“Hey guys,” I smiled. “I’ve got a fun project for
us. You want to help?”
“Sure,” Rebecca affirmed.
“Me
too,” Charlie agreed.
“Let’s see, how am I going to do this?” I
thought to myself.
“We need some paper, scissors, an envelope and
that old typewriter out in the garage,” I said, as we went to gather the
necessary items.
“Here’s what we are going to do,” I explained.
“Since Christmas is about giving, we are going to write a Christmas letter to
give to Miss Bumpers next door.”
“What do we want to say?” I asked
Charlie and Sandy as I put a sheet of paper in the typewriter, hoping a flash or
brilliance would show itself.
We all looked at each
other.
“How about Merry Christmas?” Charlie broke the
silence.
“And let’s tell her we hope her Christmas wishes come
true,” Rebecca adds.
“OK,” I agreed as I pecked away at the old
typewriter keys, thankful that the aging machine still worked and relieved that
the old ribbon yielded letters that were halfway readable.
For the
next half hour, the three of us composed a masterpiece, or at least the best we
could do given the self-imposed deadline and our abilities to convey encouraging
thoughts and ideas.
“Now we will sign it ‘A Friend’,” I commented as
I finished my typing.
We sealed the letter in an envelope that I had
typed her address on. We pasted an old used stamp in the
corner.
“Done. What do you think?” I asked Charlie and Sandy as I
held up the finished project.
“I like our letter,” Charlie
offered.
“Me too, I think it is a good letter,” Sandy
agreed.
“Let’s take the letter next door,” I said before the three
of us headed out the front door.
We arrived at Miss Bumpers’ front
door and Charlie reached up to ring the doorbell.
A few moments
later the porch light turned on and she answered the door.
“Good
evening, Miss Bumpers,” I said with a smile.
“Hello,” she said in a
tired voice.
“It looks like we have a letter that was supposed to be
for you,” I offered as I handed her the envelope.
“Oh my goodness,”
she said with an immediate excitement and smile.
“Thank you. I was
wondering what had happened to this letter,” a grateful Miss Bumpers
commented.
“Knowing that someone cares means the world to me,” she
said as she wiped away a tear.
“Well, Miss Bumpers,” I added, “I’m
sure more people care than you know. Merry Christmas.”
“Merry
Christmas to you and your family too,” she replied as a new found happy spirit
emerged.
We turned and headed home, all three of us with energized
smiles.
“Wow, she really seemed to like our Christmas letter,”
Charlie observed.
“Funny how something like a simple little letter
can make her so happy,” Rebecca added.
“Yes,” I agreed as I thought
for a moment. “Sometimes it’s the small things that can make all of us
happy.” |
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