According to her dad, Hugh Weber, 11-year-old Emerson has "a serious letter writing habit." He says that she currently writes letters with over "a dozen of her favorite people." He also shares that when Emerson writes a letter for someone, it's really special. 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.”
Hugh recently shared to Twitter that Emerson wanted to write a letter to the family’s mailman to thank him for his service:
“So, when she decided to thank our mail carrier for the service he provides us, she left nothing out. In went Taylor Swift, in went the little brother, in went the jokes. Q: Why do you never see elephants hiding in trees? A: Because they’re really good at it.”
He said that she also wrote:
"'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!'"
She popped her letter into the mailbox and was pleasantly surprised to receive two letters and stamps in the mail the next day. The family's regular mail carrier, Doug, had shared the letter with his supervisor, Sara. They both wanted to reach out and thank Emerson personally her for the letter she sent.
In her letter, Sara wrote that as Doug is considered an essential worker, he may not be able to keep up letter writing with Emerson, but that Sara definitely could.
The following week, Hugh and his wife received their own letter addressed to "Mr. & Mrs. Weber." It turns out that Sara shared Emerson's letter internally, and people at the next level wanted to reach out and thank the family for Emerson's letter. Now a lot of postal workers wanted to thank Emerson with their own letters.
Yesterday, Doug dropped off boxes of letters for Emerson. Hugh wrote: "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."
The family started poring over the letters, with Hugh noting, "These letters are so deeply human. They are filled with family, pets, hobbies, community and an overwhelming sense of kindness."
Hugh also said that because Emerson was so happy to share her innermost thoughts and feelings, the postal workers responded in kind.
"Because Em was fully vulnerable, they were too. Em shared jokes, so they shared jokes. Em share[d] her brother, so every gift that was sent came in duplicate. Em shared @TaylorSwift13 and it turns out that the US Postal service is filled with lots of undercover Swifties."
Hugh shared that people also sent gifts. He said, "One maintenance manager from Minnesota wanted to inspire her to start collecting stamps so he sent along two stamps of his own from the bulletin board in his office to start her collection."
Postal workers also sent stamps for Emerson to use for her own letters: "And, they sent stamps to be used as well. Stamps for her to write back. Stamps for her to write others. Stamps, stamps, stamps. (218 by Em’s count.)"
Hugh also said that upon closer inspection, he realized there was a lot more going on than just letter writing. He said people felt seen:
"But, there was something more in these letters. People felt seen – some for the first time in a long time. 'I work alone in a small rural post office…' 'My kids all live far away…' 'Not a lot of people think about how hard we work…'"
He also said that people were so happy to hear from Emerson, and they ended up sharing a lot of details about themselves. Emerson, being the industrious letter writer she is, set out to respond to every single person who took the time to write her.
Hugh wrote: "With dozens of new pen pals, Em did what she does best. She wrote the dad. She wrote his son. She assured the secret swifties not to be embarrassed because her dad likes TSwift, too. She acknowledged that there WERE a lot of letters but that she had time. She sees them all."
Hugh also said that he's not sharing this to brag about his daughter but to encourage all of us to connect with others. He said his daughter does this "boldly":
"I’m not sharing this because I’m a proud dad. I’m sharing it because it is relatively easy, if we take the time, to give others the one thing they need to be well – human connection. I have a friend that says we all just want to be seen, known and loved. Em does this boldly."
Hugh also shared that in this strange time of social distancing, he knows connecting with others can be a struggle. But he also believes it's the right thing to do:
"Send a letter. Make a call. Practice self care. Take a step of boldness. For yourself or for others. And, thank your mail carrier (from an appropriate distance.) They are working extremely hard to keep us all connected."
And maybe, if we all open ourselves up to being a little bold like Emerson, that connection will help see us through what are likely to be even more confusing, strange, and disconnected times. Reaching out to others could be the remedy that a lot of us need to calm our racing thoughts and secret fears. Or, if anything, it could just be a nice thing to do.
