This may be an odd first post for this new site of mine, but it is one that allows me to ease into the telling of this new chapter of my life. I find it easier to start here, with a rather meaningless ramble, than to begin at the beginning of “the bad times”, which were launched with my retirement.

Bear with me. There will be stories of THE BAD TIMES. Lordy, there are stories. But we’ll catch up with those in future posts. For now, let’s begin here.

I came across a Facebook ad today that intrigued me. I know, I know, I’m only a few months into retirement, and I bet you’re thinking you’ll have to have “the talk” with this old lady who is already falling for ads on the internet. Relax. I’m good.

Anyway, this ad sucked me in. Imagine a “blank of the month” club. You know, like fruit of the month or cheese of the month, whatever… But this subscription service is different than that. This particular service is called “The Flower Letters” but there are a few other similar services out there. The concept is that, in this case, the recipient receives 2 letters in the mail (snail mail) each month, for a year, which tell a story. The service describes these letters this way:

Each story takes place on the pages of intimate and personal letters sent between characters, drawing you into their hopes and dreams and the greater world around them.

Stories of love, intrigue, and adventure are told through the mail you receive which may include telegrams, post cards, coded messages, or maps.

Each letter can be stored in a beautiful tin box (optional) and everything is beautifully presented.

Take a look at a few of the photos they share on their site.

They make it pretty clear that a major target audience for this product is, well, “lonely little old ladies” who would be delighted to receive this in their mail.

So… I guess I qualify as their primary target audience? Because boy howdy, would I absolutely love to receive this kind of thing.

And if someone was trying to flirt with me and gave this to me as a gift? Well, that person would definitely catch my attention and earn some massive brownie points, ya know what I’m saying?

So what’s my point? I don’t know. I guess it just hit me like a ton of bricks that I’m now “of the age” to enjoy such things. And since it’s a sweet and lovely thing to discuss, it seemed the best way to introduce me. I’m a newly-retired woman whose retirement beginnings a few months ago most definitely cannot be described as sweet and lovely!

Stay tuned for those stories of THE BAD TIMES.

P.S. I’m tempted to start a service like this myself. Of course, it wouldn’t be as fancy, but it would be fun to write stories presented in this way.