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  • 2007-03-11 (xsd:date)
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  • Did a Grieving Girl's Letter to God Get a Response? (en)
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  • Since October 2006 this story has come to us under a variety of titles, including Going Postal, Angels at the Post Office, Angels Turn Up In Unexpected Places, and This is a US Postal Service Story. Example: According to Cary Clack of the San Antonio Express-News, the tale is real. In mid-August 2006, the San Antonio family of Greg and Joy Scrivener and their three children suffered the loss of Abbey, their 14-year-old black and white dog. Driven by concern for their pet's future welfare, 4-year-old Meredith, the Scriveners' middle child, dictated the note quoted above to her mother, then enclosed it and two photos of the family dog in an envelope addressed To: God in Heaven. This envelope, bearing the family's return address, was dropped into a mailbox at the Brook Hollow post office. Two weeks later, the Scriveners found on their front porch a package wrapped in gold-colored paper and addressed To: Mer. In the parcel, along with the letter from God quoted above, was a book by Fred Rogers (of TV's Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood fame), When a Pet Dies (a book that helps children share feelings of the loss of a pet while offering reassurance that grieving is a natural, healing thing to do). According to her mother, Meredith was comforted by the book and letter and was unastounded that God saw fit to write back. She wasn't surprised because she had such faith that her letter was going to get to God. (The oldest of the Scrivener children, 6-year-old Andy, was impressed, though: He thought it was pretty special his sister got a book from the angel, says his mum.) While Mrs. Scrivener considered asking at the post office about the package, she decided against it. I kind of like not knowing, she said. I don't know who took the time to do it, but it was an angel. We all think about doing these things, but no one takes the time to do it. However, even true tales become subject to embellishment when circulated on the Internet. Often accompanying the online version is a photograph of a little blonde girl hugging a black Labrador retriever, yet it is not a photo of the actual child and dog from the story. Instead, some unknown person in search of a little girl and her dog picture copied it from a web site belonging to an unrelated family. The child in the misattributed photo's actual name is Isabelle and the dog's name is Sara: (en)
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