Father regularly sends his children postcards as simple act of love
VALDOSTA, Ga. -- Generally speaking, postcards are for braggarts. Write what you will, but the core message is always the same: "I'm on vacation, you're not. Nah, nah. Wish you were here."
If they really wished you were there, they wouldn't have left you behind. But in Valdosta, Georgia, we found a man who is bringing a certain sincerity to the petty postcard.
David Lasseter's campaign started in 1995. He had just dropped off his oldest daughter at Notre Dame, and he was going to mush.
"Because I cried from South Bend, Indiana, to Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with my whole family in the car when I left her," Lasseter said. "And I missed her."
So that night, he sent her a postcard -- just as he has done virtually every day since then for all four of his kids. Any day they're not with him, he sends cards -- nearly 20,000 over 20 years.
Lasseter's daughter, Sarah, who lives in Savanah, Georgia, has actually saved them all -- on strings and racks, and crammed into cabinets.
"There's nothing I love more than just a picture of a building," she said.
Almost every card is unique -- on front and back.
"I don't even know if they read the cards anymore," Lasseter said.
And he doesn't mind if they don't. Lasseter said this was never about conveying new information. This was always about repeating the same message -- over and over and over again.
"When I'm gone, they'll know their daddy loved them," he said.
"You know, life gets tough, and it's nice to know somebody loves you no matter what," he said.
It's a good reminder -- after this week, especially -- to tell your kids you love them as daily and creatively as you possibly can.
To contact On the Road, or to send us a story idea, email us: OnTheRoad@cbsnews.com
