RFD

I'm mailing something to my brother and sister-in-law today.  I am trying to remember what their address is.  No, they didn't move.  They live right on the farm where I grew up in the beautiful home they built a decade ago.  Their mailbox is right where it has been.

Some of my brother's 2009 crop of peanuts

In recent years, my home county, along with many other places, has changed the addresses for most of their rural residents.  Instead of using an RFD (Rural Free Delivery) address, such as "Route 4, Box 72" (not their real address), residents now have official number and road addresses, such as "1472 Maytown Road" (also not their real address.)  This makes it easier for emergency vehicles to find a particular house. So many folks live on smaller roads, and even little field roads, and each road had to be named.  Sometimes the road is named after the family who lives there; other times after original landowners.  Sometimes the road is named by the community name, or where it travels to and from.  As I travel up US 27 toward home, I pass by Benevolence-Pumpkin Road, one of my all-time favorite road names.

But I do not recall whether the Post Office prefers the current or former addressing system.  Doesn't matter - it's a small enough place that whichever address I use, the letter will get to them.  And, of course, if either of them or my Mama should see this blog post, I could get a phone call or e-mail. 

About 15 years ago, when my grandmother was over 90 years old, her home county underwent this address-updating, and the house that was older than she was got a new address.  She mailed out little letters to everyone in her address book, telling us all that though she had not moved, the Post Office informed her that she had a  new address.  She closed the letter with, "I am so glad they let me keep my name."