We’ve lived in the same house for 26 years.

In all that time, I think we have had the same mailman.

I don’t even know his name, but I appreciate the job he does.

He’s always on time; even when the snow is so deep you’d seemingly need someone with experience in the Iditarod to deliver the mail.

He is a good guy, too. He smiles and waves when I’m sitting at the computer writing right by the front door. He smiles and waves when I’m out walking the dogs. And, when a package or something is too large to stuff into the mail box out front, he gets out of the truck and makes his way up the driveway instead of putting a note in the box telling me to show up at the post office to pick up the package myself.

That’s no small task, either. From the decided limp our mailman has acquired in recent years, he obviously has had some health problems.

Ours is not the easiest delivery in the neighborhood, either. More than occasionally, our mailbox is blocked by one of the kids’ cars, or the cars of their friends. Our mailman never complains. He must have some NASCAR in his rearview mirror, though. He amazingly weaves through all of that traffic to deliver the mail.

I just hope the mail keeps getting delivered.

The United States Postal Service is in trouble. Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned that the Postal Service is on “the brink of default” as he battles to keep his agency solvent. Without legislation by Sept. 30, the agency “will default on a mandated $5.5 billion payment to the Treasury,” Donahoe told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmantal Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

And, according to the Associated Press, with no congressional action, a year from now, next August or September, the post office could run out of money to pay salaries and contractors, hampering its ability to operate, Donahoe said.

There will be more post office closing. There is serious talk about delivering five days a week rather than the accustomed six. There will be some layoffs.

I hope our mailman does not get laid off.

He is a great guy. The USPS provides a great service. Let's try to make sure we continue to be a mail-dominated society.