My mail carrier here at the house is great. And he's a hero, too. He's one of those guys who notices when an elderly customer isn't answering the door or picking up the mail, if they haven't turned in a notice, and has called 911 on a couple of occasions and saved lives. Sometimes we might get a false alarm (we had one of those last spring, several of us put our heads together and figured out an elder neighbor must be out with her daughter for a couple of days, but the next door neighbor would be sure to keep an extra sharp eye out to be sure she got home.)

I'm always surprised when I say something to a neighbor about Anthony and they don't realize that that is his name! Heck, he has been delivering my mail for 7 years and he has a name tag on his jacket. Our children go to the same school. You should at least know the names of the people who do jobs like this for you. (A friend of mine is taking his building super out for lunch next week--the man is retiring, but has been the super there for 22 of the years Tom has lived in the building. I think it's a very nice gesture.)

SRS