Finding Inspiration at the Mailbox

Last Thursday, I had the most amazing day. A year ago, I could only dream about it. Thursday, I stopped dreaming and did it. I visited- Kindred Spirit.

Kindred Spirit is a hidden gem on the beautiful shores of Sunset Beach, NC. Technically it’s found on Bird Island. The story of the mailbox has been featured on 60 Minutes and in Nicholas Sparks book, Every Breath. If you are not familiar with Kindred Spirit Google it. It’s an interesting read to see about and see the pictures of.

The keeper of the mailbox was Claudia Sailor from Hope Mills, NC. She dreamed of a mailbox in the sand and put one on Sunset Beach. She did this as a spiritual refuge for people to come and leave a note or a letter that they would never send.

The story of how the mailbox is maintained is amazing in itself. Kindred Spirit is maintained by volunteers that go every week to check and replenish the notebooks that are left for people to write their thoughts down. Every year these notebooks and letters are taken to UNCW and added to the Archive Library for future generations to enjoy. How cool is that?

Here’s the thing about the mailbox that was the reason why I could only dream about it. I couldn’t walk the mile and a half one way to get to the mailbox. Much less have the strength to turn around and walk back another mile and a half! It became a bucket list for me.

Last February, I started on some new medications for my Rheumatoid Arthritis that have been game changers for me. I will spare you all the nitty gritty details of this, but I have been on a treatment of interventions that have changed my world. I am now able to walk long distances again. I never thought that I would see the day I could, but it is here now. That is the first thing that is important in this lesson of inspiration. Me. How this disease has placed me on a journey that I didn’t know how to navigate, and the success of what is happening now. It might not last, but it is working for now and that is enough.

Enough is what my letter was about that I left in Kindred Spirit. I won’t tell you more than that because it’s part of my spiritual journey. I used the mailbox exactly the way that Ms. Sailor intended. What I didn’t anticipate was the anxiety that I had walking off from that mailbox knowing that people would read what I wrote. It was hard not to turn around and go get it- return to sender kind of thing. But, I knew that I needed to leave it there for the healing in my heart. So I did.

The second part of this inspiration lesson about a mailbox on the beach comes from the stories and the people that were on the same journey we were. There were women in front of us that were sitting on the benches writing in the notebooks. When you get to the mailbox, it sits up on top of a sand dune. You approach it like a sacred place. It’s quiet and peaceful. Waiting your turn to gather around the mailbox is important too. Intruding on someone else’s time with Kindred Spirit is awkward. I think that is because they are doing the same- leaving a note that they will never send. So, you wait.

I noticed that one of these women wrote many pages and sat for an extended period of time. Off to the side, so that no one would disturb her peace is where she worked. No one spoke to her or checked on her or approached her. They just let her bare her soul in the notebook that would be left for Kindred Spirit.

Some of the notes we read were wishes. A child or teen wrote that they wished their grandma would win the lottery and buy a house there so they could come back whenever they wanted. Another wrote a beautiful poem about life. Others were prayers for their children or grandchildren. The notebooks were full of stories. One was about a funeral director that decided to do that career after losing a child. Another was a favorite Bible verse. One was about how tortuous their walk was in the heat. All expressed feeling and emotion no matter if they were funny or serious.

My mother, my aunt, and I were on this journey together. I left the letter I wrote about me, but I also wrote a note in the notebook about why we were there. We were on the Girls Trip of 2023. Hopefully, we can take one of these every summer. See, my grandfather died in June and the week we went to Myrtle Beach was the week of his birthday. Last year, the exact same week, we were all together as a family celebrating his 94th and last birthday. While we were together last year, he told us that he wanted us to go to the beach together every year. That’s why we were on this adventure. I suggested that we end our trip here because we had all read Every Breath and loved it. Seeing Kindred Spirit in person would add to the knowledge of the book.

The most important and deepest inspiration of this adventure was meeting the family from Michigan. As we approached Kindred Spirit, we noticed a family approaching and the dad was pushing a wheelchair. That family pushed that wheelchair the mile and a half against the wind to the mailbox. Not only that, but they also pushed a baby in a stroller. We spoke with them and offered to bring them notebooks to sign. They wanted to stand the woman in the wheelchair up and pose in front of Kindred Spirit. My aunt took the picture for them. The 4 men picked her up and helped her walk as best she could and the women came to pose with the baby. After they had their picture taken, the mom told me their story. This family used to come to Sunset Beach when their daughter and 2 sons were small. Five years ago, the daughter was hit by a car while running. It left her with a severe brain injury hence, the wheelchair. The mom told me that as her brain started to rejuvenate she began to talk about Sunset Beach. She had memories of this place. They knew that they would have to come back, so about 3 years ago they did. The family had grown with a new daughter-in-law and they had their first grandchild with them. This summer they all came for the first time. Kindred Spirit was where they wanted their picture made as a family. Just like us they made it. They were an inspiration to me.

Talking to this family filled me with thoughts of being able to go on. How life throws us roadblocks and how we deal with those are what makes us or breaks us. This family was rejoicing that their daughter remembered Sunset Beach trips with her brothers and had a desire to return. Kindred Spirit brought them out onto the beach seeking to find a mailbox that was for a spiritual refuge for those in need. They needed it. I needed it. Maybe you need it too.

Kindred Spirit isn’t the only place we can seek spiritual refuge. Our heavenly Father offers it to us as well. He will hide us under his wings so that we can take refuge there. He is our rock, our living water, our bread of life. Anything that we need to tell Kindred Spirit, he knows it before we write it or leave it in that mailbox. All we have to do is lay it at his feet. He can hold our burdens. We don’t even have to walk a mile and a half in heat and wind to leave our burdens! Just believe in Him. Ask him to hide you. He can and he will. Just ask. Isn’t that an amazing pecan?