Drive-Thru Post Offices?

I had returned the rental van (read all about my adventures in Busch Gardens with a puking daughter and 104 degree heat wave here), and I decided to go over to the post office to find out what I had in the mail.

The line was long and this woman standing beside me said, "Why don't they come up with the idea for drive-thru post offices? They have drive-thru everything else."

I agreed with her. How neat it would be to not have to get out of your car in a heat wave and get your mail? Call me lazy or whatever all you want, but I see something really good coming out of that. I turned to her and said, "I hope you're seeing in the future because that's a wonderful idea!" Even the postmistress, Mary Lou, agreed with us.

Mary Lou and I go way back. Wasn't it neat that she ended up being the postmistress here in Chincoteague? Her daughter, Rebecca, and my daughter, Melissa, were not only cousins, but they went all through kindergarden, grammar school and high school together.

So, Mary Lou gets my mail and asks me just what I do over the Internet. I guess the packages she was handing me from Random House peaked her curiosity a bit.

"I take authors on virtual book tours." I could see she didn't know what in the hell I was talking about so I explained further, "You know how authors go on book tours? Well, it's the same thing, only with the gas prices as high as they are, authors are seeing the value and the convenience in promoting their books online."

"Oh," she says, but I can tell she is catching my drift. Then, she says, "Isn't that nice."

Mary Lou is the real McCoy. I can tell when she says "Isn't that nice," she really means it and isn't brushing me off like others when I say, "I'm an author," and they say, "Isn't that nice," and they don't really mean it. Yeah, it happens. Today being an author isn't like it was back in the day, believe me. It seems everyone in his mother is an author these days.

Anyway, I tell her good day and I head back out into the heat and jump in my car and go home.

But, it does make you wonder whether it would be better having a drive-up post office where you didn't have to get out and didn't have to talk to anyone would be a better deal than having to go into a place where you actually do get to get to meet your neighbors and even talk about what your business is all about.

Actually, I think I like getting to know my neighbors and talking about my business and I believe that's what good living is all about. Which would you choose? The convenience or the chance to get a word or two in with your neighbors?