Mark & Sue Pepe hail from Kensington, CT USA.

After finding our initial box in June 2002, we have since found letterboxes in 18 states and placed them in 13 states; 4 countries: Aruba, Bermuda, The Netherlands, Great Britain; and on a cruise ship! Thanks for stopping by our website and we appreciate your continued support.

"Have fun and just get out there & box!!!"

Email us: mjpepe1@comcast.net (Mark) or suepepe1@comcast.net (Sue)

Thursday, January 19, 2006

A Key Letterboxing Ingredient

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Early this morning, we learned via email from a letterboxing friend of the death of one of their loved ones. Immediately we sent back an email expressing our sorrow at their loss and wished them comfort in these difficult times.

On my drive into work, all I could think of was how wonderful that this person thought enough of Sue and I to share this person trial in their lives with us. We greatly respect this person and we've had contact over the years, but to open up and share such a personal piece of information got us to thinking about letterboxing and the people we meet in this crazy game of ours.

The reason, I believe, that this boxer shared with us, besides our friendship, was due to a sense of community. We letterboxers are certainly a strange breed - you have to admit! Who else would plan vacations around gatherings? Who else would wander in the deep woods as long as there was a slight shred of daylight left in search of an elusive box? Who else would spend time hand stitching logbooks so they would be more specific to a carved stamp or location? Admit it - we're a strange breed of bird, to say the least.

But there is a commonality in our strangeness! A sense of community that the talk lists and gatherings foster. This community, while frisky at times, is one of caring people; brought together by the simple act of hunting Tupperware in the woods! Sure, we have our characters and a few that make us angry at times, but, all in all, letterboxers are some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet.

The handcrafted stamps, the out-of-the-way locations, the unique clues are all part of what makes up letterboxing. But, we would venture to say, it's the strong sense of community that ties it all together and makes sense of it all. We are a mixed group to say the least - ethnically, financially, intellectually and even geographically! In "normal" society, would we interact? I tend to doubt it but it's the common bond of our love of this hobby that creates a sense of community by which we are all equal and can share this addiction in a way we might not otherwise interact.

After all, what fun would this hobby be if we didn't have a sense of community? It makes perfect sense to not only share our triumphs as well as our tears.

So let's not linger on our differences but rejoice in our common affection for this strange and wonderful community of letterboxers!




posted by Mark and Sue at Thursday, January 19, 2006