The Postcard Is Alive and Well!

Recently, after reading an article in National Geographic questioning whether the postcard was becoming obsolete, Stretch and I have been waging a “Save the Postcard” campaign and gratefully receiving a lot of support from family and friends. Well, today we’re happy to report that the postcard has been taken off the Endangered Species list.  The latest issue of Nat Geo says that since they printed that story they have received hundreds of postcards from readers, assuring them that the postcard is not going anywhere just yet, except to its addressed destination!

So we’re offering a big thank you to all our friends who also assured us that we can continue to look forward to finding postcards from them in our mailbox. In our blog post today, we’re sharing some of the “interesting” contributions we received.

Our new friend Judy Bowlin sent us a vintage postcard of the statue of Vulcan in Birmingham, Alabama. And in one of those weird coincidences, she didn’t know about my mania for world’s fair history when she picked out this card for me. (Vulcan was originally displayed at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.)  And Stretch approves because this statue is fully clothed.

Our friend Wanda sent us two postcards during a recent trek she took to Kentucky and Ohio. And how appropriate to get a postcard from the Christmas Story house during the annual “Christmas in July” mania. It’s almost as much fun as receiving a Red Ryder BB gun.

Stretch is still trying to figure out the postcard from our friends Paul and Mitzi. It sends greetings from the airport bar but they claim to have found the card at their local supermarket. It also bears a sketch of a strange looking bird claiming to be an “Extinct Nevada Eagle.” Stretch wants to know what’s in those drinks at the airport bar, he wants to try one.

Cousin Melanie contributed another card from her home state of Tennessee. It’s a nice card with a lot of the highlights of the state on it, but they left out the biggest highlights that Tenn. offers us—fried catfish, hush puppies and banana pudding.

We really love all these cards and appreciate the thoughts that went behind sending them to us.
And I think you will agree a certain cousin has gone above and beyond in her efforts to save the postcard for us. Anne-Marie, we are designating you the Patron Saint of the Postcard!

And Stretch would like to thank his relatives for all the cards they sent . . .