What I'd like to do now is share with you
a very special handful of secrets from that collection,
starting with this one.
"I found these stamps as a child,
and I have been waiting all my life
to have someone to send them to.
I never did have someone."
Secrets can take many forms.
They can be shocking or silly or soulful.
They can connect us to our deepest humanity
or with people we'll never meet.
Maybe one of you sent this one in. I don't know.
This one does a great job of demonstrating the
creativity that people have when they
make and mail me a postcard.
This one obviously was made out of half a Starbucks cup with
a stamp and my home address written on the other side.
"Dear Birthmother, I have great parents.
I've found love. I'm happy."
Secrets can remind us of the countless human dramas,
of frailty and heroism,
playing out silently
in the lives of people all around us even now.
''Inside this envelope is the ripped up remains
of a suicide note I didn't use.
I feel like the happiest person on Earth (now.)''
This is the last postcard I have to share with you today.
"When people I love leave voicemails on my phone
I always save them in case they die tomorrow
and I have no other way of hearing their voice ever again."
When I posted this secret, dozens of people
sent voicemail messages from their phones,
sometimes ones they'd been keeping for years,
messages from family or friends who had died.
They said that by preserving those voices and sharing them,
it helped them keep the spirit of their loved ones alive.
One young girl posted the last message
she ever heard from her grandmother.
Secrets can take many forms.
They can be shocking or silly or soulful.
They can connect us with our deepest humanity
or with people we'll never meet again.
Voicemail recording: First saved voice message.
Grandma: It's somebody's birthday today
Somebody's birthday today
The candles are lighted
on somebody's cake
And we're all invited
for somebody's sake
You're 21 years old today.
Have a real happy birthday, and I love you.
I'll say bye for now.
Thank you.