A couple of weeks ago, we got a card in the mail. It wasn’t addressed to us, but that’s not unusual. We get mail addressed to half a dozen people who lived here before us, mostly junk mail. This looked like a card, a bit late for a Christmas card, but still. And this one not only had the wrong name, it had the wrong address. Wrong street, wrong city, wrong state. In fact, it was even on the wrong coast. The card should have landed in a mailbox in California. The only thing right on the whole envelope was the house number.

The Nancy Drew in me woke up. HOW did this card end up here, in Georgia? Where was it supposed to be? Could I get it there? I quickly discarded any thought of marking it Wrong Address and putting it back in the mail box. Might as well put it in a bottle and throw it in the ocean.

I studied the envelope. The return address was somewhere in France, which made it seem more important to get the card delivered. The name of the street was clearly a mistake – Road Street. I don’t think there are any streets named Road. But – what would the magic of google do for me?

I entered the family’s name, the street address, and zip code – boom. Like magic, there it was. Broad St. Right name, right city, right everything else. Seriously, one wrong letter and the whole thing went astray?

Then I realized the family’s zip code was only one number different from ours. So apparently, the sorting machine (not working as well as the one at Hogwarts) got the zip code wrong and then focused on matching the house number. Very strange. But – now I knew where the letter was supposed to go!! Mystery solved.

So I tucked the card into another envelope, with a note explaining what happened, addressed it correctly, and sent it off. I was very pleased that my sleuthing skills had been put to good use. And I felt like there was a tiny thread of connection, like a spider web, from France to me to California.

About a week later, I got something in the mail – pretty ivory colored card stock, from the family in California. It was a lovely thank you note, which made me smile, and feel like that web of connectedness had just gotten stronger. And that would have been enough. But also in the envelope was this beautiful sheet of stamps, embossed in gold Thank You.

It is such a perfect gift. Now I feel affectionately connected to those people in California. And I’m inspired to write thank you notes to people in my life. I envision taking that thread of connection and throwing it back into the air – ok, attached to an envelope, with a note, to people I love.

Don’t expect your note any time soon. I’ve been known to have that kind of impulse and take years to act on it. But know that the thought is there, the stamps put aside in my secretary, just waiting to be used. Connections, networking out into an intricate web…