recent developments.......

Beth has carried mail for the United States Postal Service for nearly 26 years. She has experienced every kind of weather, all types of customers, vehicle breakdowns, dog attacks, trips and falls, and hostile supervisors. She has both received and bestowed many kindnesses, saved a life, been an eyewitness to criminal activity, and taken part in annual food drives - carrying hundreds of pounds of donations back to her station. Her customers absolutely love her. She proudly wears the uniform and carries out her duties as best she can, day after day, year after year. It was always her plan to spend her remaining working years as a Letter Carrier.

Unfortunately, the physical nature of the job, the addition of over 50 walking blocks to her route in the last 12 months (and the threat of more to be assigned), continued health issues, and her outlook for the future has brought her to a fork in the road.....a decision-point. With seven years left to "early" retirement, she has come to the hard realization that she simply cannot make it that many more years. We certainly wish there was a safety net for a postal employee who cannot walk that far every day, but is not eligible for disability. She believes that if she continues to "gut it out", she will, in fact, become disabled. She is taking far too much pain medication to make it through each long, hard day and we all know that pills only mask the problem, they do not solve it.

As I write this (December 10th), it is Beth's intention to leave the post office at the end of the year to pursue a degree in studio art at Wichita State University. While this may sound like an easy decision: "following your bliss" or "listening to your body", (which it is), there are serious financial consequences to leaving a job, any job, but especially a career job -and it is no light matter to plan and execute this change responsibly (health and life insurance mean very little to a 20-year old, and everything to a 50-year old).

So....a new chapter begins.......