Our Resolute Sentinel

Nearly twenty-six years ago this month, we needed to install a mailbox at the end of our newly created drive. The thought of the long walk down our winding lane to retrieve the mail made my heart swell with nostalgia. Our love of things old-fashioned draws us to a simpler life. With a fondness for large mailboxes, the fine well-built receptacle that we spotted at the local hardware store was ideal. Just walking into Aydt’s Hardware was an amble into times past. In fact, all of Hamilton County at the time seemed to hint of an era twenty years bygone. We were home!

There on a dusty shelf in the old-fashioned establishment sat our mailbox. It was ideal in all ways but wanting a coat of green paint. After covering it with a shiny forest green color, the box was mounted on a perfectly “y” shaped post from the crotch of a tree. Functional, intriguing, wistful, the post was picture perfect.

Prior to 1902, farmers could use whatever was at hand for a mailbox. Crates, buckets, lard cans, and various items were all used for receptacles. As the United States Post Office determined that Rural Free Delivery was here to stay, the required standard regulation mailbox became the norm. We affixed our repository to its post and marveled as it held even sizeable packages that arrived. Not only was it utilitarian, but it caused us to contemplate a more simple time and fastened our heartstrings to our down to earth lifestyle.

One dire day, the inevitable happened. The great green target that sat at the previously empty roadside became the recipient of some bunch of hooligans looking for some irrational sort of fun. Our young children could not fathom why someone would do something so hurtful. We used the opportunity to explain the disheartening ways of the world and moved forward. Other times, our big green goal was knocked clear off its y shaped mount and smashed beyond recognition. Once again, we faithfully pounded it back into its humble form and mounted it back into its rightful place.

Since its arrival on Providence Prairie, our mailbox has received many coats of its forest green paint and has even received a new post or two, as the old ones gave way to the elements. Resolute, there it prevails, harkening us to pursue an uncomplicated existence. More recently, it has been surrounded by a pleasant plethora of flowers that yield color throughout the spring and summer.

Devoted as ever, our green mailbox continues to hold as much mail as our mail carrier can stash into it. It has been our faithful servant throughout these past few decades. Come rain, shine, sleet, or hail, it’s always there without fail. Resembling one part of a vast row of soldiers, our charming green mailbox stands sentinel to a time reminiscent of handwritten notes and loving packages sent with care.

~Rhonda