As the saying goes, “In life, a little rain must fall.” We all experience moments when something unexpected happens, and it hits us like a ton of bricks.
In the case of a married man whose mistress got pregnant, you’d think that the rain in this scenario is obvious. But you’ll never guess what he learned nine months later, and how he found out! When it rains, it pours!
The story goes like this. A married man who had an Italian lover for many years learned one day that she was pregnant. The two struck up a deal, in which she would return to Italy to give birth to their child and keep his identity secret in exchange for a large sum of money. In addition, the father would continue to provide for his child financially until he or she turned 18.
They also agreed that when the child was born, she would let him know by sending an anonymous postcard that simply read: “spaghetti.”
Nine months passed, and one day the man came home from work and his wife said to him, “We got a very weird postcard today.” She handed it to him and it read: “Spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti, spaghetti. Three with meatballs, two without them. Please send more sauce.”
Ha! Talk about a surprise.
If that story sounds familiar, it might be because of a movement that started just over a decade ago called PostSecret. PostSecret is an ongoing community mail art project, created by Frank Warren in 2005, in which people mail their secrets anonymously on a homemade postcard.
The concept of the project was that completely anonymous people decorate a postcard and portray a secret that they had never previously revealed. No restrictions are made on the content of the secret; only that it must be completely truthful and must never have been spoken before. Entries range from admissions of sexual misconduct and criminal activity to confessions of secret desires, embarrassing habits, hopes and dreams. PostSecret collected and displayed over 2,500 original pieces of art from people across the United States and around the world between its founding on January 1, 2005 and 2007.
If you were a fan of PostSecret, or if it has piqued your interest, here are four more sites you’ll love, courtesy of MakeUseOf.com.
1. A Softer World. Each update consists of a triptych accompanied by a thought provoking or often poetic phrase. The ‘comics’ as they call them also have a very confessional tone to them, which is very reminiscent of PostSecret.
2. Found Magazine. This is a repository of lost love letters, cards, lists, photographs – all the little scraps that we lose, that someone else finds. Found Magazine is updated, in principle, by its readers. All of the photos and notes featured on the site are sent in by readers. Found Magazine will make you smile, will make you think, and might even make you cry.
3. All Over Coffee. The San Francisco Gate has one of the most unique, touching and poetic comic strips I have ever seen. Paul Madonna’s All Over Coffee is updated on a weekly basis. Beautiful sketches of the city of San Francisco serve as a backdrop to little bits of poetry, thoughts and conversations.
4. Post Rejects. At first glance, Post Rejects doesn’t look all that different from PostSecret itself. On closer inspection, you’ll realize that it’s a parody site, that while certainly not as thought-provoking as its inspiration, it will definitely bring a smile to your face. Most of the cards are created by the site owner, but they do also accept submissions.
What other sites like PostSecret do you follow? Let us know in the comments.