Writing Letters

I'm a letter writer. It is so much easier for me to get what I want to say out in writing than it is in speaking. I need time to process, to edit, to put thought into my words. I also love paper supplies and getting mail. Cmon, who doesn't?

The art of letter writing is kind of being lost with the dominance of technology (and the decline of the postal system) and I miss it.

When I was in elementary school, my best friend Rachel and I found a wonderful little book by American Girl called Clever Letters (is this still in print?) and immediately began crafting letters to one another furiously. We both have a shoebox full of them each to this day. I recently started writing letters with my nieces and I've been using some of my old tricks on them (they probably think I'm just super amazingly creative, but I actually still have that book on my shelf).

I also have a few treasured hand written letters from my grandmother and I wonder...will my kids even be able to read cursive? (The answer is yes, because I'm going to teach it to them even if their curriculum leaves it out).

I've written a lot of letters in my life. I've written letters of friendship, of advice, and even a few love letters. And in my darker moments I've written at least two very hurtful letters (seriously don't write letters when you're depressed). I've written poems, though usually of the humorous notion for birthdays. I've even written letters to strangers.

I often wish I had better handwriting. It's improved over the years but without lined paper and slow pace I'm sloppy.

I may just be a tad bit sentimental or read too many Jane Austen novels, but letters can still be so personal and treasured, can't they?

Things in my life always seem to overlap and today is a good example. I've had this post drafted and sitting on blogger for a few days, then today I saw that my friend Margaret got a job at Paperfinger. Of course I clicked the link to check it out and discovered that the art of handwriting is not lost! :) (Congrats by the way!)

So I guess I will just encourage you to consider writing letters---those personal little treasures that maybe, just maybe, will end up in a shoebox and be read more once and maybe by more than one generation.