The fortune cookie came from the Safeway deli, a place where you can order takeout Chinese cuisine. Inside the folded golden cookie shell was a modern fortune, printed on a slip of white paper:
It’s time to write a letter or email to one who is distant.
The fortune, my fortune, was on the money in two respects. First, when I write letters, I almost always use email, with a ratio of electronic to paper messages of at least 20 to 1 and probably higher than that. Second, earlier that day, I shared a photo and some news with a cousin I communicate with only every year or so. You guessed it: I used email for the job.
Apparently the humans who write these fortunes recognize that times have changed. However, I still look forward to the end-of-meal pleasure of reading, on paper, what they have in mind for me. Even if I get a smart phone someday and pay for my order that way, I hope the fortune doesn’t arrive after dinner by text message.
I too hope the physical fortune cookie message does not disappear in the electronic age. The reading of the cookie was a ritual end of the weekly lunch I had with Dad at Double Happiness.
By the way I’m so glad to see the Mud Bay Blog upend running again :)