I absolutely love getting mail. Even today, one of the highlights each day is going to the mailbox. Most days it's just routine mail. But sometimes....unexpectedly...there is an envelope addressed just to me...and inside there is a handwritten letter. Or just a note. It is absolutely thrilling to me. One of my friends took the time to sit down and write to me. Not an email...or a facebook comment. A LETTER!
I don't read it right away. I set it aside and wait until I have time to really enjoy it. Sometimes I will even pour a glass of wine to enjoy while I read; as if that friend is sitting beside me, sharing stories as we have done so often in the past. When the letter has been read, I file it away in my correspondence file on my desk, because yes - I will respond with....a handwritten letter!
It is definitely a lost art. As the only cousin and grandchild who lived away, I learned at a young age to write letters. I wrote to my grandparents. I wrote to my cousins. They wrote back. It was such an important part of my childhood and I have carried it into my adult life. Every Christmas one of the items on my wish list is stationary which I use to write to our children, my parents, our siblings and my friends.
Now all of our grandchildren live out of town, and one of the things I hope to teach them is the thrill of the handwritten note. I will take turns writing letters to them, and encourage them to write back. I'll write about our traveling adventures, and what I'm cooking for dinner, and memories of times spent with each of them. For birthdays or Christmas I might even buy them stationary and stamps. My greatest legacy would be to engage them in this lost art of the handwritten note...
