Put a stamp on it!

Happy Friday!  I hope you all have had a good (and / or productive) week!  Last night when I went home I opened my mailbox and I noticed through all of the junk mail that I had two letters.  One of them was a thank you note for a wedding I was in recently.  I read it and put it in my box of correspondence.  The other letter I made a cup of tea for and curled up and read last night.  In this age of digital life, a few friends and I have continued to send letters - genuine, hand written, lengthy letters.

Please stop gasping, and pick your jaw up off the floor.  I know, I know, this old fashioned drivel coming from one who thoroughly embraces technology.  Let me explain how this all started.  Many years ago, several of my girlfriends and I were lamenting that unlike our grandmothers and great-grandmothers who had boxes of old correspondence from friends, family, loved ones, we had no similar boxes.  Yes, I know, we have our e-mail in-boxes, but really those are just series of ones and zeros and can be lost to the cosmos forever with one incorrect click.  We resolved then that we should write each other.  Keep each other updated about our lives, work, families, everything through mail as well as phone conversations.  We started almost immediately.

Fast-forward almost 6 years now and we are still writing letters on an almost weekly basis.  It actually is quite wonderful as we are all far busier than we were six years ago and coordinating times to talk on the phone can be logistically challenging at times ("I can talk at 6", "Well I can talk from 4-5", "No I can talk at 2").  Also, on a purely selfish note, there is something inherently comforting about getting a letter that you can hold and read, a letter that you can mail with a newspaper cutout or a photo, a letter that you start writing on a Monday and finish throughout the week.  My love of writing and receiving letters has extended now to family and friends who weren't initially in on the conversation, but I have been told by many of them how much they appreciate hearing from me and having a chance to write back.  Finally, isn't it nice sometimes to know that someone cares enough for you to take the time and effort to write a letter?

Well, I am off to start drafting my response to my friend's letter which is now safely stored in an old hat box with all of her other letters and those of many of my friends.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!

JCP