A Bipostal Mailboxing Adventure

In the spirit of ideating words like “mailboxing,” I’ve come up with “bipostal” to frame my dual West Coast and East Coast mailboxing activities this winter. From Bainbridge Island to Bird Island, a pilgrimage to the storied Kindred Spirit mailbox was my first stop along the coast of North Carolina. The mailbox is famous for its enduring legacy of human connection through the unwavering stream of heartfelt journal entries, which visitors can “post” into the mailbox.

Every journey to the Kindred Spirit Mailbox is as unique as the myriad reasons for visiting. My reasons were both simple and complex. I wanted to say hello and I wanted to be transformed — a tall order for a metal box and a heft of driftwood.

As Anne says in Anne of Green Gables, “Kindred spirits are not as scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”

My sojourn was shared with a friend who is local to the Kindred Spirit Mailbox. Debra McClendon and I were close co-workers who hadn’t seen each other in 10 years, and suddenly here we were, two gals on an amazingly sunny January day along a wide expanse of beach on Bird Island, south of Sunset Beach, witness to and participants in the phenomenon that is the Kindred Spirit.

Several nondescript-looking notebooks were crammed into the mailbox. I selected one, trying not to fuss too much over exactly which one. I’d trusted that when this moment came to pass, I’d know precisely what to write, that something truly awe inspiring and insightful would pop into my head, that people would read my entry years from now and weep. My pen hovered over the page for what seemed an eternity. Nothing . . .

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