There it was, lying on top of a stack of junk mail—a real, honest-to goodness personal letter. Only three people send me snail-mail, two cousins and my granddaughter.
My name and address were written in blue ink on the envelope, which held one sheave of paper, folded neatly, covered with handwriting, also in blue ink. I pulled it out to discover a detailed letter written by my cousin Arden who is helping me track down a bit of family history. As far as I know, he doesn’t own a computer and is one of the rare people who doesn’t “do” e-mail.
As I read his letter, I felt a twinge of nostalgia for the good old days of letter writing. It was the only type of long distance correspondence that existed until the last decade or two. In the good old days, aside from rare long distance phone calls, which were pricey in the terms of those days, writing letters was how everyone kept in touch with far-away friends and family.
As I read Cousin Arden’s letter, I frankly was surprised at how enjoyable it was to sit down—yes sit and not in front of the computer — and read.
The letter wasn’t chatty and newsy like the ones I receive from my female cousin Iva, (also a non-computer person). His letter got to the point, explaining my cousin’s latest genealogical discovery with humor injected here and there and signed off with a pleasant farewell.
While reading, I realized several facts. First, I read his letter in a much more leisurely fashion than I do e-mail. Handwriting takes more time to translate.
Second, a handwritten letter emits a much more personal feeling than does e-mail. I could visualize my cousin with pen in hand, hunched over a desk, occasionally stopping to think and lifting his pen off the paper while he contemplated. The same thing happens when I read my Cousin Iva’s letters. It’s easy to imagine her sitting at the kitchen table, with a cup of coffee, writing to me before she begins her daily chores.
Thirdly, when reading a real letter, I don’t think about a reply or how quickly I must answer, something I always do with electronic mail. I’m aware that writing a real letter takes time and some planning. You need envelopes, stamps, a working pen…you get the picture.
The third person who has written to me is my granddaughter, Natalie. She was given a school assignment to write a letter and picked me as the recipient. In very legible large print she wrote her salutation Dear Joan, followed by How are you doing? She had properly placed the date on the right-hand top of the paper and spelled everything correctly. Her letter went on to give me a few facts about her day and her friends and then signed off.
It was easy to visualize her at the dining room table, chewing the pencil eraser and asking for occasional help from her Mom or Dad. I, of course, had to reply immediately, and her mother reported that she got a big kick out of finding my letter in the mailbox.
As nostalgic as I am about snail-mail, I’m aware as anyone else, that the future of communication rests in the electronic world, and that it is faster.
But sometimes I wish…
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