Mail Fraud, or How to Ask Rude Questions in Public

So, did anybody send us money recently?

There's no polite way to ask that question, but I have to ask, because it looks like someone may have been swiping our mail. We have had three pieces of mail go missing en route to us in the last month, and each of them was related to money: a check for a Relay fundraiser, a graduation card for Boy with check enclosed, and a replacement debit card for my business account.

We are getting the card replaced and the others have been informed. But the complicating factor is that Boy received a metric ton of wonderful cards, letters and other mail from kind family and friends congratulating him on his graduation. And in the time-honored tradition of the starving student, most of them sent cash or checks.

Boy diligently wrote thank-you cards for gifts received before he went off to camp. There were a few that came in after he left, so those have not been properly thanked yet. (He's getting to them as soon as he comes home, he swears.)

But as we go to report our missing mail to the post office, it occurs to me that other folks might have sent him checks or cash and simply assumed that he was too much of a teenager to send a thank-you card, when in actuality it was stolen.  Checks are especially worrisome, because then they could commit nastiness on your accounts.



Bottom line: If you sent Ian money or a gift and did NOT receive a thank-you card, please contact me privately and I'll check the list to see if it arrived. If it didn't, you'll want to check your accounts.

Thanks a lot, random thief, for casting a pall on such warm generosity. Ian was floored by the outpouring of love and support, some of it from people who barely knew him apart from my online blatherings. We were all deeply touched, and on top of Ian's thank-you cards, I want to say to all of you: THANK YOU; not just for checks and cards, but for your loving kindness.

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