A thread of tweets is going viral this week after one little girl’s “wild ride” with her USPS driver has captured hearts across the internet. It’s reminding us all that despite all of the craziness, there IS still good happening in the world.
Emerson, my 11 year old, is on a bit of a wild ride with the @USPS and our local mail carrier, Doug.
And, I think there’s a deeper message to it all.
First, the backstory…
— Hugh Weber (@hughweber) May 2, 2020
According to her father, Hugh Weber, 11-year-old Emerson has a “serious letter writing habit.”
“She maintains active correspondence with over a dozen of her favorite people. And, if you’ve been the lucky recipient of one of Em’s hand decorated letters and envelopes, then you have a pretty good idea of the joy they bring.”
Em has a serious letter writing habit. She maintains active correspondence with over a dozen of her favorite people. And, if you’ve been the lucky recipient of one of Em’s hand decorated letters and envelopes, then you have a pretty good idea of the joy they bring. pic.twitter.com/82FnWRsD5B
— Hugh Weber (@hughweber) May 2, 2020
Hugh says that when his daughter writes a letter, she goes all in.
“A letter from Emerson is likely to include some art, a joke or two, a mention of her younger brother, confessions of her love for Taylor Swift and enough questions to guarantee a response.”
Recently, Emerson decided to write a letter to thank the family’s mail carrier, Doug, for his service. Hugh says she left nothing out.
“In went Taylor Swift, in went the little brother, in went the jokes,” he said.
Her heartfelt letter read:
“I’m Emerson. You may know me as the person that lives here that writes a lot of letters & decorated the envelopes. Well, I wanted to thank you for taking my letters and delivering them. You are very important to me. I make people happy with my letters, but you do too.”
She continued, “The reason you are very important in my life is because I don’t have a phone so how else am I supposed to stay in touch with my friends? You make it possible!”
Full of personality on the inside and out, Emerson’s letter was a perfect reflection of her! She took it to the mailbox, smiled when Doug took it, and for her, “that was enough.”
But the next day, a package arrived for Emerson with some stamps and two letters: one from Doug, and one from his supervisor, Sara.
She put it in the box, smiled when he took it & that was enough.
The next day a package arrived with some stamps & two letters.
Doug had shared Em’s letter with his supervisor, Sara, and they both wanted to share how touched they were by her note. pic.twitter.com/bdpRxl1QeK
— Hugh Weber (@hughweber) May 4, 2020
It turns out, Doug was so touched by Emerson’s letter that he shared it with Sara, who decided to reach out to Emerson personally.
“Sara said that, as an essential worker, Doug might not be able to maintain regular correspondence, but she sure could, Em started writing that very afternoon.”
But the ripple effect of Emerson’s boldness didn’t stop there. The following week, Hugh and his wife received a letter in the mail addressed to “Mr. and Mrs. Weber.”
Sara had decided to share Emerson’s letter as a “token of thanks” in the postal service’s internal newsletter for the Western United States. Now a lot of other postal workers wanted to thank Emerson with their own letters.
This is when things get interesting. The next week, we got a letter address to “Mr and Mrs Weber.” It seems that Sara had shared Em’s note as a “Token of Thanks” in the internal newsletter for the Western US and there were some postal folks that wanted to thank her. pic.twitter.com/ImnnZRUx5p
— Hugh Weber (@hughweber) May 4, 2020
“This has sparked great joy in a time of turmoil in our country, and I thank you for raising a daughter like Emerson,” the note read. “May her love for the country and the United States Postal Service be continued throughout the years.”
A few days later, Doug came to deliver two BOXES of letters for Emerson from postal workers around the country.
Today, we saw Doug getting out of the truck with two BOXES of letters from around the country. We snapped a quick photo through the door as he and Emerson met for the first time. It was a beautiful moment on silent reciprocity. pic.twitter.com/WjpOJmxoNf
— Hugh Weber (@hughweber) May 4, 2020
“We snapped a quick photo through the door as he and Emerson met for the first time. It was a beautiful moment on silent reciprocity,” Hugh said.
After the family had gone through several of the countless letters, Hugh noted, “These letters are so deeply human. They are filled with family, pets, hobbies, community and an overwhelming sense of kindness.”
