Continuing week one of the April A to Z Blog Challenge...
Day 3-C is for Cards and Letters
Do you write letters? Did you write letters once upon a time? I confess to still loving pretty stationery, a good pen that writes just so, and seeing an envelope in my mailbox that is clearly personal. If you send me a card I will open it, read it, admire the design, and display it for at least a few days on the mantle or kitchen island.
I have a hard time throwing a card in the trash, but of course I can't keep them all. I do have a collection of some whose words are extra sweet stashed in my closet. I looked through them recently, but could part with none.
When each of my girls were born I put the cards I was sent in a scrapbook, which sounds a little over the top, except when I flip through that now I'm glad I saved them. I see the words written inside, and remember the prayers of so many family friends who knew me as a child, who watched me grow to become a mother myself, and the memory of these godly women is a treasure.
In a convenient but unplanned turn of events, hubs and I finally tackled the great attic clean out of 2024 2025 2026 this week, and came upon some cards and letters I'd written him when we were dating. There was my young angsty heart laid bare in ink on slightly yellowed stationery.
A stamp in 1980 was just 15¢, and that's the sort of time capsule you won't get from a deleted email.
We started dating towards the end of a spring semester, then spent that summer apart so we wrote letters. How fun to read what my 20-year old self was thinking and feeling in the earliest days of our getting to know one another.
Four pages front AND back...
I was not dramatic at all. Ha!
I think about the world today and how communication is instantaneous and mostly brief. Texts, emails, messages sent via the miracle of technology and all that jazz. On one level this is wonderful, but I can't help but think we've lost something too.
Something precious and worth keeping.
There's a thoughtfulness to the act of letter writing that is mostly missing from an email. How often do you save and re-read an email time and time again, years apart even? An email goes into your digital trash can. A card or letter from someone who loves you, who appreciates you and tells. you why, who encourages you and lets you know you're thought of, well that is at the very least a day brightener and most often it's something more.
A keepsake to hold on to in a disposable world.
I agree. There’s something really special about a physical card or letter with a message that someone took the time to write. I have some saved too!
ReplyDeleteLove this! I rue the decline of letter writing and treasure all the letters/cards I have kept. I had a clear out when I moved house and now I wish I had not done that, but I still kept lots and as the years have gone on, some of them have become even more important. Although I write few letters these days, I still can't resist pretty stationery so that's a bit of a catch-22!
ReplyDeleteI often wish I had kept letters my husband and I wrote one another; we went to different high schools so we often swapped letters in between weekends but I'm not very sentimental like that. I did save most of the baby cards I was sent though and put a page in each boys' scrapbook for them.
ReplyDeleteLove cards! Such a beautiful tradition :)
ReplyDeleteI have a collection of old letters and cards. I have tried to get rid of some, but every time I re-visit them, I get sentimental and don't throw many away, so I can relate!
ReplyDeleteI agree that there's something so wonderful about a tangible piece of communication! I'm glad that I saved every piece of correspondence from my mom when I was in college.
ReplyDeleteI have a "dating" scrapbook for Tom and I with concert tickets, movie stubs, cards, and letters. I feel sad that today's youth won't have that! I loved that we were long distance and had to write letters and didn't have email at first!
ReplyDeleteGood job on the clean out. I decided if a card was simply signed a name that I wouldn't keep it. If it had a message, I would.
I must confess that I have half of a drawer full of cards and letters from loved ones, and right now have the more recent ones on top of a book shelf in my bedroom. Christmas cards are kept until next Christmas, but not all of them get tossed either. Yes. I get an email each day from the USPS, telling me what will be in my mailbox today. If it is from a loved one, I am anxious for the mail truck to show up!! Other times, I can go a week without going to the mailbox (at our clubhouse). Sigh. I used to have penpals (one in India!). It's sad that those days are nearly gone. Kids will never know (except my gr-gr niece, Maya who is my penpal!). Loved this!!
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