Feeling a Little WooWoo

Monday is trash day and each week we set out two buckets. One with bagged trash, the other an open container of recycled goods (paper, glass, cans - a mixed lot). The trucks come early, beep, beep, beeping throughout the neighborhood with an underlying rumble, and the workers hop on and off the trucks, racing to empty the buckets and move on.

Because the recycling is in an open container, occasionally something flies free and escapes the claw arm of the truck. This morning it was a large sheet of white paper. When I went out to gather my buckets, I crossed the street to retrieve it.

It was a large catalog envelope, face down, and I saw there was writing on the back flap . . . "Check out those stamps!!"

I flipped it over and saw three stamps: a polar bear, a snowflake, and a brown bear.

The spent, discarded envelope was sent to a little boy up the street, and the stamps were carefully selected to pique his interest. None had the customary cancellation marks. Only a bar code glued to the bottom right edge indicated it had, indeed, been carried through the postal system.

Why does it matter, and why did I take these photographs? Because I just finished a mini-course by Lilla Rogers of Make Art That Sells, titled, Be More Woowoo. Now, I love the idea of serendipity -- and who knows how the universe works -- so I wanted to share this. In her videos Lilla talks about looking for signs as you move through your day.

I've been working on some new ideas to promote and encourage people to write more letters and discover the unexpected joy and connection of postmarked mail. But this morning I started to wonder about my ideas. Should I, or shouldn't I move forward? Will people go for it? Will this work?

Taking Lilla's idea of looking for signs one step further, I looked at the symbolism for bears: strength, leadership, taking action, and the idea of new ideas coming to life in spring after a winter hibernation.

Well. Who knows?

All I know is I found an envelope with bear stamps . . . and it all seems, I don't know, wonderfully woowoo.

What do you think?