Douglas wrote a piece about the joy of corresponding the old fashioned way.
Of course, his correspondents were more notable than my own, but I had to agree with him that the written word is a powerful, enduring thing.
In our paperless society, we've grown accustomed to communicating electronically. (And yes, I understand the irony, given that I've kept this blog going for over seven years.) There are certainly advantages to texting and emailing, and they do have their place.
But so too, I believe, do written letters.
Being the sentimental beast I am, I keep lots of old cards and letters from friends and family. I know I should go through them, and one day soon, I will. Maybe. Probably.
The other day, I came across some letters my brother, Paul, wrote me when I was living in Virginia. Maybe I saved them to use as blackmail. In any event, I'm glad I did, because they are a hoot and a half. The envelopes were addressed to me and tagged, variously, "Woman of La Mancha," "Pineapple Queen," "The Brains Behind Spam," and "The Crusher," to give a few examples. I look forward to reading through them again. Hopefully, they will still make sense, given that a lot of them allude to references I made in my letters to him. (Mysteriously, there's also a check for $5.00 that I never cashed. Do you suppose it's still good?)
They say the younger generation is abandoning letter writing. That may be so. But in the past two weeks, I've received thank you notes from two of my nieces, Claire and Rose, and I was touched by both. When you take the time to send a note to someone, you may not realize how much it means to them.
What I wanted to do was send a "thank you" to them for their thank you. But that's just silly, I know.
Still, I want them to know I appreciate their taking the time to write. And put a stamp on the envelope. And put it in the mail.
Such a little thing. And such a big thing, too.
No comments:
Post a Comment