Day 81: I Have Never Written a Letter to a Random Stranger

To Whom It May Concern,

Hi! My name is Joe. You don’t know me, and that might be creepy, receiving a letter from a complete stranger. My apologies. I hope you didn’t think this was, like, anthrax or something. Nope, just a friendly letter to a friendly stranger 3000 miles away. Full disclosure, I am doing this as part of my "Joe’s New Summer" project, wherein every day I’ve done something new. Today is Day 81—only three weeks of summer left! So far, I’ve: read an entire newspaper, attended a political town hall, eaten a free lunch at a strip club, bought a lottery ticket, played disc golf, made homemade pickles... and today I’m writing to a stranger. Lucky you!(??)

I’m writing to you from here in Philadelphia. I’m not sure if you’ve ever been, but I would highly recommend it. I know that Philly has a reputation of being a "tough" town, maybe even filled with "rude" people, but I can definitely assure you that’s not the case! We’re a big city filled with friendly, passionate, hard-working folk. I’m pretty proud to be here. We’d love to have you.

My wife and I try to travel as much as we can (as much as our work schedules and wallets will allow, anyway). Learning about different parts of America really interests me, and I’d love to learn more about Twin Falls, Idaho. I like to imagine that folks in Twin Falls and folks in Philly would get along pretty well. At least, I want to imagine that, what with our country as divided now as it ever has been.

I see that Twin Falls County voted Trump to Clinton 3-1. I’m certainly not here to pass judgment on strangers. What I hope for is this—I hope and pray that Twin Falls, Idaho flourishes despite that vote. I hope that the fine folk of Twin Falls stay educated and really challenge our leaders when they need challenging. I hope the very best for your family, your neighborhood, and your county.

More important, maybe, is appreciating life every day. I’ve been pretty upset the past few days about the Charlottesville riots and murder, about trump’s inability to appropriately respond to the hatred, and just the general fact that it was our own citizen that committed an act of terrorism on our soil. It can really bum you out! But it’s nice every once in a while to step back and appreciate the good things in life. Good health, the ability to laugh, being a free citizen, basic needs met, etc., etc. I wish you all these things.

Anyways, thanks for reading this dumb letter. If you feel like it, you can find me on joesnewsummer.wordpress.com. I’d love to hear from you in Idaho.

Be well.

Love,
Joey