Dear Adam,

Have you considered the fact that you are a magnificent amalgamation of stardust brought together in a single form, in a world that is constantly coming undone? Have you considered the probability of two unlikely people like your parents meeting each other was infinitely less possible just 100 years in the past due to migratory and societal changes? Have you considered that the fact that every cell in your body that allows you to think, and reason, and express opinions is a miracle of biology? Now that you have considered all that, don’t you think you’re being a little hard on yourself for not being perfect? Tomorrow’s a new day; you can try again.

Love, your future son

*****

PO Box 159 at the Brooksdale Post Office is a bit unusual. Every week, it receives letters from many different people from many different times in the future. Many times, the letters are well-wishes and advice from the loved ones of people of our time. Other times, there are dire warnings.

No one seems to know how or why these letters started coming to PO Box 159. They simply appear. The future these letters describe seems to be in constant flux; one day the year 2098 sounds like a dystopian hellscape, the next day a letter will appear describing a garden of Eden.

Emma Reilly, the owner of PO Box 159, shares the letters she receives through this blog (mostly) every Tuesday.