Even years later, I am still swooning over this one

Anyone who has ever asked me for a book recommendation has undoubtedly received my heartfelt endorsement for "The Brothers K". It is my favourite book and has been for about 7 years, ever since I first read it. My previous favourite was by the same author, a book called "The River Why". I may have given you the pitch for this one as well. I can't say it changed my life, but it definitely filled my heart in only the way that perfect storytelling can, and forever changed my expectations for a good novel.

That was just setting the scene for the rest of this post. I was thinking the other day about nice things people have done for me, and recalled a postcard I received in 2005, while I was in Switzerland.

So, in lieu of a sappy valentines post, I thought I would post the least sappy, most amazingly thoughtful thing that perhaps anyone has ever done for me.

When I was in Switzerland, the coming of the mail was an exciting event. Email access there was a bit limited and slow, and letters from home were always more thrilling anyways. I got lots of nice letters and postcards from Joel. He often sends me postcards because his parents are in the postcard business and as a result he has a bit of an endless supply of Edmonton and Jasper themed items.

One particular day the mail came just before lunch. I grabbed my mail for the day and headed down to the Chalet where I would be eating. It was a formal lunch, which meant that we were having a group discussion, but I spent most of the meal puzzling over a postcard I had received. It appeared to be a Kelly family special featuring Edmonton's river valley, but the stamps on it were decidedly American and the message centered around fishing and "a note from one Joel Kelly, asking me to drop you a line". I couldn't make out the signature.

It took me until the end of the meal to realize that I was holding a personal note from my absolute favourite author.

Knowing of my love for David James Duncan's works, Joel decided to write him a letter sincerely (and knowing Joel, probably very earnestly and politely) requesting that he fill out the already-stamped and addressed (to me in Switzerland) postcard with a personal message for me. So he did it. Joel had no idea when he sent it to him whether he would do it or not, so he was almost as surprised as I was when I called to let him know what I got in the mail that day.



Swoon.