|
Every Day: Postage stamps are simple gift with big impact
By ROB PAYNE
For Williamson A.M.
I have never met Anne. A few months ago she read one of these columns about people helping us since Marcy's diagnosis of Lou Gehrig's disease and started sending us money just like that. Last week, as I was beginning to pay bills, I rounded up all my materials and noticed I didn't have enough stamps to mail out all of the bill payments. Even someone who uses e-mail and the Internet as much as I do still needs stamps. Sometimes my kids wonder, but I really do live in this century. I know that grocery stores now sell stamps. I consider it one of the best ideas since the light bulb. Nothing against postal workers. Some of my best friends are postal workers. One of my sisters is married to one. Really. But there's still a scar in my brain from the days when you could only buy stamps at the post office. I can't suppress the memories of trying to make it to the post office before they closed at noon on Saturday. If I made it, I had the pleasure of standing in a long line of other last-minute stampers. And the person directly in front of me usually had some sort of complicated, clock eating issue that needed resolving. If I didn't make it by noon, I had to buy stamps from a vending machine. That was even worse. The postal vending machines didn't give change. To get to an even dollar amount, they sold you a few freak denominations of stamps. For example, and to date myself, when stamps were 18 cents and book of stamps was $1.80, you put $2.00 in the machine and it delivered ten 18-cent stamps and eight 2-cent stamps. Maybe that's not exactly right, but I remember collecting odd denominations of stamps in my desk drawer. Every now and then when I was totally out of stamps and a bill was really due I would cover an envelope with the freak stamps and mail in the payment. Can you tell I still have a hang-up about stamps? Even today I buy 100 stamps at a time so I have to buy them less frequently. Of course, the post office occasionally raises rates. It seems they raise the rates more often now than they did when I was younger, but everything seems to go a little faster these days. Back to Anne. Along with a check, she always includes an uplifting card. Before paying bills, I opened her card for this month and a book of stamps fell out. Though Anne and I have never met, she must be someone that people like. I suspect I'm not the only stranger she helps, and I know she is very close to God. She answers needs before they are known. If you know a family in need, consider sending them some postage stamps. You might be giving them the special delivery they need.
Every Day Is Precious is a column to remind us to treat everyone we see today as if it could be the last time we see them. It is written by Rob Payne, whose wife, Marcy, was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in August 2000. For more ways to help others, to find more about Marcy or to receive email updates on her condition, visit www.EveryDayIsPrecious.com.
| 
');
post yXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXcate ɋ"ly Hvҩ L ntry ( 'T:gw%,
<}y X url jhttp://gcirm.tennessean.com/RealMedia/ads/adstream_nx.ads/news.tennessean.com/williamsonam/index.html@Top bsrl Uhttp://tennessean.com/williamsonam/archives/03/11/42471133.shtml?Element_ID=42471133 mime
image/gif hvrs data GIF89a< 1 ӜֽRЗ伖iٵs)̗oDz{]pÈޯֵ19
ޫyZBiH>Zε1R!!!B! NETSCAPE2.0 !, , < "d)r"P릂1 t$6S"#`t0 ެp tJZ)zԬlznx@xioZA
464
*FF(<|) > NfrcUOhf_yu* .5E7 F ={@ DG"MNhz}*~
NDE1 m_Y`E߿&ƐN8>%CRb
TqAz, ԗIBm<ɲKT
>$Ѥ8r
QF͎(g/9t4y~OJ&淙}i]A+b B!q$ (ÙMl 唪߿,zúlO!Hd6 `.A[F
E l(M-"lHlaCDPQ\
n<'3(
F1PEsktK)+SM8`@#/ Jva 8^O X}N} !_ wI1_W} +"xk
@YFd -A n,MJo P )1 A7vPxw$?BDyzщe'd5{ҵp9AD lF0E_w PDYဝ9@
t^bQXةijJʼn"3*t
k%X"A` ?*rI/! i
\4 +l|ЪJ@I@ pyj䩫Q
XXF hAz\=ٌNfhqN (tYfqE2 Pw1o ;,70z eAG G ×AN`#.6 bY-5 ܂T[%\h`ݿ,0sj˵w0vUa7pg.j`6Bidx VzgE$wsUDP1t,Z#[@&2r6셗 2*sU38AbFAx
7 D][p@> <IC Yk\`7{vIf ]n d5n` 6=gf@p
@8#Op@rwbt-1.r{` E -~,'9 <0&cKD(OBӄ Bv} d%1 q@b
8FZMՋhpj_5.\s>=-aLic 0IHysxoIV U%< e3#h҃eoSeࡀ*JQvMJKJR6&'0bN`Lu2㘥а?aND-:+ | B9Z
b$7 x*Hh6JW.#v^ 9Q`\xNI*ے'?1Qo$ E?`
G-)9{s:yrML5E}j%$Q0NL.M%Q:#ct lJ
;dHu@*$ґ̙tPn 279_ K WuM#j:3=;Z~q+z5^R')֬,]oA%01H
ʣ@ c{ ^nGA8
9(=`)DAɲv1n s 0:`@5 UQ=@4rībV B%vqDQ B 5D' VBBy?8R דa\'$1mw`7K/!. 
