Sisters bring back the magic of snail mail through personal adversities
GLENDALE, Wis. (CBS58) – As technology advances at rapid speeds, older methods often get lost in the change. When we think about talking, for example, many of us now FaceTime and text every day. But a few years ago, we would’ve been speaking on a landline… before that, you’d rely on snail mail.
Two sisters are hoping you'll turn to handwriting letters, as it's something tangible you can keep forever. Plus, there's science behind the joy it brings the writer and the reader.
Sisters Grace Nixon Peterson and Leah Nixon have always been artistic.
“My sister and I have been best friends since she was born, basically,” shared Grace. “We grew up just sitting next to each other on the kitchen counter doing art together. Both of us got one side of the pantry door. My side wall was always filled with so much art, I was so prolific. And Leah's was just very curated; she would take the time with each piece” she continued.
Over 10 years ago, Glendale-based Grace started her own Etsy shop selling hand-painted cards. But she says she started getting carpal tunnel due to the repetitive work and had to stop. Leah then came up with the idea of working together, “I could be your hand, you could be my brain, and we could do this!” she said.
In 2017, the sisters turned into business partners, creating Tiny and Snail. Leah said the name came because she had been building tiny houses and Grace loved nail mail. Leah, having gone to art school, became the lead designer.
Nearly 200 designs have been made for cards fitting all occasions. Leah said their love of greeting cards began because “our mom emphasized greeting cards and how important it was to write thank you notes and give cards at people's birthdays. And one of the things that I found difficult is because I am an artist, I felt like every card I gave should be like a, you know, original piece of artwork.”
Before their business could take off though, their “lives flipped upside down” on August 14, 2018 said Grace.
Her sister Leah had been a construction worker for Habitat for Humanity, and got trapped underneath a telehandler. “I don't remember the accident, but it slipped in the mud and fell on me, and it took the firefighters 45 minutes to get the machine off of me. And meanwhile, the paramedics were pumping me full of blood” she said.
Leah’s vertebrae snapped, paralyzing her instantly. Grace said between tears that she “just prayed so hard when my mom called and told me. She’s saying ‘honey, I have some really hard news to tell you. This happened to Leah.’ I wailed. ‘God you have to let her live and you have to let her use her hands.’ I just knew that art was Leah's thing.”
Family surrounded Leah in the hospital. Since she was intubated, she couldn’t talk. But, she could finger spell. Grace recalled that moment, “the very first thing that she spelled was ‘can i still draw? And I was like, ‘yes. You can!” Leah spent 29 days in the ICU, recovering, dancing, and drawing of course. “I think art is just such a part of my soul… who I am as an artist. So, yeah, that was the first question. I wasn't really concerned about if I was going to be able to run again or something, but like, I needed to draw” said Leah. She shared that she had been an avid runner and loved going on hikes before her accident.
"That was something that kept me going in the ICU was, 'Grace cannot run Tiny and Snail by herself."
Instead of making cards, Leah, in turn, received them in the hospital. She said that one of her painting professors in college wrote to her with the note of “when Leah was a painting major, she was a breath of fresh air and a shining bright light in our class.” Leah said, “that’s just a super nice thing to hear. It’s something that somebody would say at my funeral. And I didn't have to die.”
Those cards and time in the hospital gave Tiny and Snail some insight into how to make cards people actually want to receive. Grace said, “life just handed us this crash course in hard things and also getting through them… we’ve experienced the hardest things, best miracles, and community and cards to help navigate all of it”
Following her recovery, Leah wanted to get a deeper understanding of why writing and receiving cards was such a pick-me-up. “When we receive a note like that, it sparks dopamine, and dopamine is the neurotransmitter that helps us do hard things. So it was literally medicine to me to receive those cards, and it helped me do my therapies and everything I needed to do to get past the trauma,” she said.
Tiny and Snail's cards are now made on an iPad, more accessible to Leah. But, there's more weight behind them, and it’s not just because paper was traded for a tablet.
Leah shared that after nearly dying seven years ago, it’s incredible to use her “second life” to impact so many people. “If I hadn't gone through such a traumatic event, we wouldn't be making the cards that we do now. I think that our congrats cards are great and our birthday cards are great, but I think the most meaningful cards are our cards of sympathy and encouragement. And I think that's because it comes out of lived experience,” she continued. Leah said she has continuous nerve pain in the lower half of her body, so the pain that goes into the cards as she’s drawing is part of her recovery process: “it helps me meditate on people who will be receiving these cards and just what they might be going through at that time too.”
In under a decade, they've already sold nearly 100,000 cards and have more on the way. “Multiple people are writing a Tiny and Snail card every single day. Thousands upon thousands are going out into the world with our art and messages, and more importantly, being written on and sent and providing hope and support and connection,” said Grace.
While texts are instantaneous, cards last a lifetime: “We don’t get to be here forever, and Leah got a second chance. But I think all the time, if she had died, she knows exactly how I feel about her… I think the people in our lives need, we all crave to know exactly how much we mean to people. And a heartfelt card is just one of the best ways I know to do that,” continued Grace. Leah said just before her accident, she had mailed cards to some of her friends and is grateful that she could’ve had that final goodbye, thanks to the letters she sent.
The sisters say they would never want to “villainize” technology, as it’s how they’re able to communicate every day, living in different states. However, being able to materialize your thoughts into paper and being able to look back on them years later proves there’s “magic in mail.”