Treasure in the Junk Mail

Few days ago, my wife cleared out all the letters, and junk mail in our table. As we received a lot of materials in the mail, most of them junk mail, they just piled up in our counter. Most of the time, I will separate the bills from the rest of the mail, and put it to my important mail pile. (Yes, all I am searching for in the mail are bills!) How funny that the only “important” letters we receive nowadays are bills.

As there are some personal information on the letters and even in the junk mail, my wife decided to shred them before she toss them away. As she was sorting the pile of papers and envelopes, she found an envelope with a check inside that amounts to more than $1,500 named to us. Yes, more than $1500! The check was sent to us more than 4 months ago. It was from our previous bank lender and it was given back to us, when we refinance our home to a new lender. We have mistakenly stacked it in the junk mail pile.

I cringe at the thought that we almost shred  and throw away  a nice sum of money. We have never thought that there’s something precious buried in that pile of junk letters. And we never even knew that we had it.

Sad to say, there are also other precious things in our homes that we are not aware of, or worse, pay no attention to. Treasures that are buried in the clutter of our busy lives. Valuable moments that are stacked upon by our preoccupation and distraction to “junk mails.” Constant deadlines, overtime at work, games and amusements, TV, computers, and other forms of entertainments heap over and bury this simple treasures.

A quiet family meal time together, a moment reading with your child, tutoring them with their homework, or time just playing with your children — these are the treasures I am talking about.

My son just entered the room with a chessboard in hand. I think I should finish this piece and heed my own advice.