Cards and Letters

I spent much of yesterday sorting through a box of cards.  The cards date back more than 35 years.  I decided it was time to look through them and only keep ones that I wanted to remember.  I filled two trash bags and was left with less than a shoe box full of really special cards and letters.

As I was glancing and reading through each one, I remembered how nice it was to hear kind words from people in the mail.  I tend to get cards on holidays: birthday, Valentine's Day, Christmas, Mother's Day, but I also had some that were sent just because someone wanted to send a note.  Those are precious to me.  Those are part of my story, a loved one sharing about their days and asking about yours.  It's a story.  They sat down and took the time to write a note and ask questions.  They addressed the envelope, put a stamp on it and put it in the mailbox knowing it would be a few days before they got their answer.  They will anticipate your response and look forward to retrieving the mail each day.

I don't write letters as much as I did when I was in college.  It could be because texting and calling is so very convenient.  It could be because I got busy with my life.  It could be a little of both.  Convenience hasn't made us better at talking to each other.  I think we put off the conversations until later because we know we can.  Or perhaps, we think that sharing a picture with everyone is the same as talking to one person.  Whatever the reason, I stopped writing to people.  After looking through those precious and kind words, I found myself wanting to hear from those dear friends and family members on paper again.

I will be mailing a large amount of letters in the next coming months.  You may get one from me.  I will have to hunt down some addresses, but I'm sure that won't be too difficult.  I hadn't realized how special that written conversation was and I hadn't realized how much I missed it.  I will happily take a few minutes to write down my thoughts and queries to the people that are dear to me.  I'm excited to get the conversation going again.