Wendy, We Will Miss You

I got to know Wendy when we first moved to Cambridge about 8 years ago.   I’d see her a few times a week and she was always helpful to me and any of the other people who came into the Post Office.  I’d watch her be patient with people who would have driven me crazy.  She’s the kind of postal worker who notices when one of the older customers doesn’t show up and worries about them.

We bonded beyond postage when we began talking animals.  I’d tell her about my new sheep and she’d show me a picture of the baby porcupines she rescued from the side of the road after their mother was hit by a car. There was always another story.

During the pandemic I started doing most of my shipping online and would just drop it off at the Post Office.   When we didn’t know how the virus spread and people were washing their mail and leaving it outside for 24 hours, Wendy and the other postal workers that I knew did their job without complaint not knowing if they were risking their lives or not.

Since things have opened up, if I hear Wendy at the front desk I always stop and say hello even if I don’t have any business to do.  Especially since she told me that she was retiring.

This is Wendy’s last week at the Post Office and I’m going to miss her.  She made going to the post office fun for me when I still had anxiety about shipping out my work. And after that, I just enjoyed talking to her, even if just for a little while.  She became a part of my community.

I wanted to give Wendy something special to let her know how much I will miss her, so I came up with this potholder. Wendy doesn’t live in town, so I probably won’t see her around much once she leaves.  But I will not forget her kindness and the love of animals that we share.