The Stamp of Approval

Our Save the Date cards arrived today. We've collected all but 5 of the addresses. So, all that's left is to address them, throw stamps on 'em, and put 'em in the mail.

In anticipation of this, I went to the On-line USPS postal store. I figured there would be quite a few postcard stamps to choose from, perhaps some particularly appropriate to the wedding theme.

Umm not so much. Try two. That's right. If you want to buy 37 cent stamps, you have close to 50 options, but with postcard stamps, you get to choose between the original George W. and Wilma Rudolph.

Wilma Rudolph? Who is that? Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of the founding fathers just as much as the next person, but I immediately thought it would be better to send postcards with stamps bearing the picture of this woman and the word "athlete." I was intrigued, I mean, who is this random other person who gets to share in the postcard stamp glory?

Well, it turns out, she was a bad-ass to the Nth degree. She was born the 20th of 22 children, with polio. She walked with braces until she was 9 years old. But, she rehabilitated her legs to become an athlete, first in basketball and then in track. She went to the Olympics at 16 and won a bronze medal, returned in 1960 at the age of 20 to become the first American woman to win 3 gold medals (in the 100m, the 200m and the 4 X 100m relay).

When she came home from the Olympics, she insisted that her welcome home parade be a racially integrated event. She is credited with saying that being the cause of the first racially integrated event in her home town of Clarkesville, Tennessee was her finest accomplishment.

Her achievements are amazing and impressive on their own. They are even more so when considered that she was an African American Woman in the South who grew up during segregation. Recently, I was shocked to learn just how long it took the world to accept that women could run marathons. No doubt it would have taken longer without Wilma Rudolph.

So, yeah. The save the date cards? They'll have Wilma Rudolph stamps. 'Nuff said.