The Mast-Head: In the Mail

About year ago, I am still embarrassed to admit, I missed a letter from Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The thing is, I am not all that great about dealing with personal mail. Bills needing to be paid go in one pile; everything else kind of gathers dust. It was only thanks to my wife, Lisa, that the unopened note from Mrs. Clinton did not end up in the recycling bin. In my defense, there was nothing to indicate from the outside that the nearly square envelope held anything noteworthy inside, so I put it aside with all the other mail, and forgot about it.

It was only after a couple of weeks had gone by and Lisa was tidying up the kitchen that she popped it open. Mrs. Clinton sent the note to comment on a column I had written in The Star about matters of local importance that, to me at least, had broader implications.

I read it quickly. At the bottom above her signature, Mrs. Clinton and her husband sent their best wishes. Lisa looked at me like I was an idiot.

In the year that has passed since, I have not miraculously gotten better about opening the mail. And the issues I listed at the time — economic hope for the America’s lower and middle classes, climate change, and educating our increasingly diverse K-through-12 student population — remain.

As it turns out, Bill and Hillary have again rented a place across the bay from our house, more or less in the direction of the sunset from our upper deck. It is interesting to think about these two leaders looking out onto the same waters, and I wonder what they think about as they take in the view.

I’ll wave when I go by in the boat this weekend. And then keep a better eye on the incoming mail.