You’ve Got Mail!

11 October 2011Taryn O

Imagine that it’s a dreary Thursday at Brentwood, you’ve just eaten lunch and are on your way out of Crooks Hall when out of the corner of your eye you see a sign with a large paper posted on it. Your heart leaps. This list contains the name of every student in the school, but that’s not what’s important: it’s your name that you’re searching for. There it is, and beside it, an X. Yes! Suddenly this rainy day has been turned upside down: You’ve Got Mail. Yes, that is the mail list, a beacon of hope for any student in the midst of a flurry of tests and essays. A simple X is all that it takes to draw a small smile (and perhaps a little jump and dance) from a student. Getting mail is one of the most exciting things an average school day can present. Some days it may just be a bank statement or something equally annoying and disappointing, but on others it may be a letter – a package if you’re lucky – from home. A letter from home is a warm hug and a cup of tea in the midst of a thunderstorm: it’s comforting. The idea that someone outside of Brentwood has thought about you, even for a moment, is invigorating. A small piece of mail can let you know that no matter how challenging your day, there are people back at home wishing they could be with you. A curious parent may wonder why we Brentwood kids do a small dance at the sight of a simple letter. This phenomenon cannot be completely explained: it must be experienced. Paige M is no stranger to mail, or the surreptitious X, and can often make a spectacle of herself as she struggles to maintain a cool demeanor despite the impulse to sprint downstairs and hassle the laundry ladies in search of word from her nearest and dearest, often exclaiming as she goes: “I love mail!.” There are days when the mail list can bring unwanted anger (when that person on the list just above your name has mail, and you do not). In your head you begin to chastise this person for not fetching their package and letting you believe – for a beautiful second – that there is some small token waiting to be carried to your dorm. The anger subsides as the realization comes that this person also waits anxiously for deliveries, and perhaps, just like Paige, can barely contain his or her thrill. So, dear parents (my own included), I write to you in a desperate plea for a quick delight. A letter, a postcard, or if you’re feeling really generous, a package, are always enthusiastically received and much appreciated. Brentwood students act tough, but they miss home as much as you miss them. So, next time you see that hilarious card in a store, don’t pass it by: send it on and think of the smile your child will wear when they realize that this postcard was meant especially for them.

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