Father regularly sends his children postcards as simple act of love

VALDOSTA, Ga. — Generally speaking, postcards are for braggarts. Write what you will, but the core message is always the same: “I’m on vacation, you’re not. Nah, nah. Wish you were here.” 

If they really wished you were there, they wouldn’t have left you behind. But in Valdosta, Georgia, we found a man who is bringing a certain sincerity to the petty postcard.

David Lester’s campaign started in 1995. He had just dropped off his oldest daughter at Notre Dame, and he was going to mush. 

“Because I cried from South Bend, Indiana, to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with my whole family in the car when I left her,” Lester said. “And I missed her.” 

So that night, he sent her a postcard — just as he has done virtually every day since for all four of his kids. Any day they’re not home, he sends cards — nearly 20,000 over 20 years. 

Lester’s daughter, Sarah, who lives in Savanah, Georgia, has actually saved them all — on strings and racks, and crammed into cabinets. 

“There’s nothing I love more than just a picture of a building,” she said. 

Each card is unique on front and back. 

“This is Uncle Ben’s rice box. There’s a whole lot of talk about gardening and football,” Sarah said. “He taped my foot and said for me to wear my shoes all the time.”

I mean, come on, who really cares what happened at the podiatrist?

“I don’t even know if they read the cards anymore,” Lester said. 

And he doesn’t mind if they don’t. Lester said this was never about conveying new information. This was always about repeating the same message over and over and over again.  

“When I’m gone, they’ll know their daddy loved them,” he said. 

“You know, life gets tough, and it’s nice to know somebody loves you no matter what,” he said. 

It’s a good reminder — after this week, especially — to tell your kids you love them as daily and creatively as you possibly can.

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