WEST VANCOUVER, B.C. — To appreciate who Debra Dolan could be mailing her latest postcard to, we have to go back to when she sent her first. “When I started, I wanted to escape from my small town,” Debra says, adding that she embarked on her first vacation by herself in her early 20’s. “A journal was just too heavy in a backpack, and I didn’t want to carry a camera,” Debra says. So when she found postcards that depicted the place perfectly, she wrote about her impressions and mailed them to herself back home. “[Postcards] make you be concise and in the moment,” Debra says. “And then when I came back, there they were.” A pile of postcards to greet her. “It’s just this most beautiful thing,” Debra smiles. So she committed to never stop writing on postcards and always travels without a camera or a smartphone. After visiting almost 80 countries over 40 years, Debra has a collection of more than 1,000 postcards she’s mailed to herself, chronicling a life well-travelled. Debra says she always writes truthfully and authentically to herself. “It’s the good, the bad, the ugly,” she explains. Along with documenting where she went and what she did, Debra’s postcards reveal who she was. “Memory is deceptive,” Debra says. “[Postcards] hold a mirror up to your face.” Which is why, no matter the cost of postage, the postcards are proving to be a priceless gift. “I never knew how adventurous I was, how curious I was,” Debra says, explaining she was always judging herself at the time. And because the postcards offer her a perspective on her past, Debra says they inspire her to be grateful for her present. “That reminds you, these are the good old days,” Debra says. “They’re right here. Right now. So, why not capture them.” Which is why it’s not unusual to find Debra mailing herself a postcard following a meaningful experience, even when she’s here at home. “Your story matters. Your voice matters. Your place on Earth matters,” Debra smiles. “So why not celebrate it?”
