I’m old enough to remember receiving letters in the mail. Hand-written letters, usually from older relatives. This was before cell phones, before computers. It was a time when you looked forward to getting the mail since it was personal correspondence and not a paper version of spam. Opening an actual letter is somehow different than opening an email. Your hand touches the same paper and envelop as the person who sent it.
When was the last time you received personal paper mail?
Why am I writing about this? I have a grandmother who is still alive. She is a tough old farm lady and I make the effort at least once a year to write her a long letter. I shoot for five or six pages (which is long for me).
It takes me a long time to write this sort of letter because I am looking to share information without being EMO or inappropriate. I work to make the writing legible.
While sorting through my closet, I found a letter from my other grandmother, who has been gone for twenty years. Seeing her writing gave me chills. I could see her. It was so much more ‘her’ than an email would have been. It was a connection that surprised me.
I propose we all write out a letter to someone we care about and stick it in snail mail.
Who in your life would appreciate a handwritten letter?