Jess and Dave Osinski in Peru on a recent vacation. Credit: Family photo

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Jess and Dave Osinski enjoy sharing vacation photos on Facebook. Clearly, one of their few hundred "friends" wishes they would stop.

The Wauwatosa couple received an anonymous letter in the mail this month.

"It's a little upsetting seeing, hearing and reading about someone's vacations all year while we all can't afford one," it said.

"I started reading," Jess said, "and I was like, what in the world? I had to read it a couple times."

The letter writer suggests the Osinskis should send regular Christmas cards, too, presumably because he or she doesn't like seeing a collage of their vacation photos as a holiday greeting.

The last sentence goes for the jugular: "Go have some kids and don't be so selfish as to only think of yourselves all the time."

"That's an editorial I don't need or deserve," Dave said as we sat at their dining room table. "How do you know what we do? We do things. We're Big Brothers Big Sisters to somebody. We give back in our way. We chose not to have children. It's just our decision."

As it turned out, 2013 was a particularly good vacation year for the couple, though some of the trips were little more than long weekends. They visited Florida in January, New York in May — a trip they bought at a breast cancer benefit in 2012 — Peru in June for a mountain trek, and San Francisco in September.

They work hard and get the standard amount of vacation time. Jess, 36, is a psychotherapist who specializes in helping sexually and physically abused children. Think she needs to get away once in a while? And Dave, 41, is a benefits consultant.

Jess took the rude letter and did what many of her generation would do. She tossed it up on Facebook and included this advice: "Please feel free to unfriend us from Facebook as we clearly are not 'friends.' If you're unsure how to unfriend someone, go to the 'Help' menu."

Reaction in the comment section was brisk and supportive.

"You are both awesome and do not deserve this," said Julie. "I must be really selfish for having kids and leaving them at home to go on my own vacations."

"In all seriousness, what could be more selfish than saying: I know what the world needs. More people!" Marcus said.

"I keep thinking it has to be someone's terrible idea of a joke," Christine said.

"Maybe if they spent less time on FB stalking you, they could work more, make more money and go on a vacation, too," Chrissy said.

Whoever typed the letter knows the Osinskis well enough to have their home address. It's someone who made the cut of their Christmas card list. A family member? An ostensibly close friend?

But here's the weirder part. The envelope bears a Miami postmark.

The Osinskis don't know anyone in Miami. They think that somehow the envelope was put in the hands of someone down there and dropped in a mailbox.

"Or, ironically, they were on vacation when they sent us the nasty letter about our vacations," Dave said.

One final touch. On the back of the envelope is a bright yellow smiley sticker.

You know, we're all a little selfish on Facebook. If we're not posting vacation photos, we're talking about our kids, pets, dinners out, political preferences, health challenges, favorite links. Nobody has to read any of it.

Jess is right that the unsigned letter is just flat-out creepy, and it betrays a sender who is smoldering with jealousy and bitterness. Someone small.

"Everyone has an opinion," she said, "and I think you can't let them dictate how you should live your life."

"I do wonder who it is," she added.

"I wonder, too," Dave said, "but we're not going to lose sleep over it."

Or stop sharing their well-earned vacations.

Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or email at jstingl@journalsentinel.com