This past week I was thinking about how things change over time. I must be feeling nostalgic or something but I spent a little bit of time reminiscing about how things used to be when I was younger and one of those memories was about how we used to communicate with one another.
I went to a college that was several hours away from where my parents lived and since it was long before the ease of having cell phones at our disposal we had to come up with other methods of keeping in touch. The one thing that my parents asked me to do when I left for college was to write a letter to them each week. The cost of a postage stamp when I started college was a mere 15 cents and by the time I graduated it was up to 20 cents. Still, it was an affordable way to keep in touch.
But that meant that I actually had to write that letter. It seemed like a very small price to pay for the education that my parents were paying for and so I did it. I think I was pretty faithful in sending that weekly letter.
What I do remember is that I used to have fairly decent handwriting. Or at least I thought I did. But these days my handwriting has devolved into somewhat of a scrawl and I have to really concentrate to make my handwriting legible. I think it is a combination of being in a hurry and the constant use of computers. I am out of practice.
During Lent the five years or so I have added something instead of the traditional giving up of something. I have sent a handwritten homemade card or letter to someone for 40 days during that time period. Each day I choose someone near or far to send a card to to tell them what they mean to me in my life. It has become a practice that I look forward to. I have heard back from nearly every single one of those 40 people telling me that it was nice to get a card or letter in the mail. While my motivation is not to receive thanks it has certainly been a wonderful end product from a discipline that I have felt I needed to practice.
When we cleaned out my in-law’s house I discovered a drawer that held letters and more letters. It seems that Chris’s mom saved every single letter that I had ever written to them over the years. When we got married we moved away from our families and lived in Orlando, Florida where Chris was in the Navy. I continued to write weekly letters to my own parents and I suspect I wrote almost weekly letters to Chris’s parents from the looks of it. I was amazed that she kept them all.
The other day I pulled those letters out and started to leaf through them. Did I write anything that was amazingly wonderful or creative? Nope. The letter at the top of the page was my first letter written as Mrs. Chris Chiles after we arrived in Orlando post honeymoon. Oh I was so young. But to know that my mother in law thought that they were worth saving makes me smile.
Writing letters seems to be a thing of the past. With email and instant messaging, Facebook and all the other modes of social media the handwritten letter is a rarity these days. I just had a conversation with one of our neighbors and she told me she still writes a couple of letters every day. I found that to be really a wonderful thing in this day and age.
When was the last time you sat down and wrote a letter to someone?
Does an email carry the same weight or so you miss the days when the postal carrier delivered more than just bills and junk mail?
Do you have any letters that you cherish? I would love to hear about them. Feel free to share in the comment section. We have a few more days to Comment for a Cause and contribute to a Toiletry Drive for Students so don’t be shy.
23 Comments
Leave a commentI wrote a letter once a month full of news to Paul’s parents living in England. Then we got a computer and I typed them up and sent them. (Which I learned later they loved as they had trouble reading my handwriting.) Later on we sent newsy emails. Now that we live in Spain I get very excited when I get something in the mail from home. My daughter, bless her, sends me cards and letters and so do some of my friends. I must admit I would not hear very often from my brothers if it were not for social media and emails. Communicating is good in any form. Your handwriting was very nice, mine unfortunately never was.
I know it is a big deal to be able to get “real” letters and remember how much I loved it when we were in Australia. I still try to send several a week but sometimes fall short of that goal. I usually type letters to my mom now because her eyes are so bad and she gets mixed up with my messy handwriting. Just last week I sent a postcard with a picture of the bear that was in our yard. Somewhere in her mixed up head she has decided that was a MAN in my yard who I chased away so I have to be careful what I write now even more. 🙂 I can not convince her it was a bear so I played along and told her I just forgot that there was a man in my yard.
I know. I have to be careful what I send my mom as she gets confused as well. She also worries about all of us so much so we can’t send anything that will cause her concern. She loves pictures of flowers so that is safe. Someone has to read the cards to mom so I try to print nice and clear. The staff say they enjoy the cards as much as mom does! xo
I am glad you understood! I have tried to send a lot of pictures of things we have seen as well as well as family photos . Some days are better than others for her —you just never know. Headed to see her next week so hopefully she will be doing well but regardless it will be a good time.
Wonderful post! That is SO sweet that your mother-in-law saved all your letters. I had a similar situation: my in-laws rarely mentioned the (handmade) greeting cards I sent them for every occasion. I began that hobby several years before they passed away. She would put mine on the fridge with the others they received for any given holiday, but didn’t usually mention it. But one day, she opened a drawer to an old sideboard in her dining room. And there was a huge zip-lock with every card I’d made for them. (sniff, sniff). I do have several letters from years ago that I have saved. They’re treasures, for sure!
I love where people truly appreciate the home made cards we make, don’t you? What a nice surprise to see that drawer filled with all those cards you made for them. Thanks for sharing that!
Great post that I needed to read! Got me thinking! You know, I’m not sure the younger people I know could read a letter written in cursive. A few years ago I made a big effort to send cards to family for e dry occasion. One Valentines Day I decided to send those fancy cards with the “humming bird sticker” but I must have messed up the extra postage because most people didn’t receive them. So that derailed me for awhile!
I still write letters and cards on a regular basis. I know how much getting them means to me. I have a letter my cousin wrote when her three children were small; telling of their escapades. It is a treasure! I wrote one recently to my daughter telling her how proud I am to of her. And NO email does not carry/ send the same message. I always remember someone took the time to sit and put thought and their hand to this paper, address the envelope and mail it to tell me something. In this day and age that is quite a message in itself!
I think about the same thing sometimes. It’s always so nice to get an actual letter in the mail. My daughters friend recently went to sleep away camp and they are not allowed to use cell phones or social media so she had to write letters. It was really exciting for Ash to receive them.
When we cleaned out grandma’s house we found letters that her and grandpa had written to each other before they got married. It was such a revelation to read how much they loved each other. Truly a treasure.
It’s great to find a letter in the mailbox and I often do. From only a few pages to up to ten 8 1/2 x 11 pages written closely on both sides. Pen pals are the best! Some letters I write longhand, some I type and the letters I receive are a mixture also. Some of us use e-mail to let the other know that a letter is coming; others let it be a surprise. As for family, rarely get anything in the mail from them except at Christmas. Long live letter writing!
Letter writing is indeed a thing of the past and that is truly unfortunate. I am guilty of this myself. used to write a monthly letter to a friend but that has fallen by the wayside with emails and texts. Still write a letter once a month to a young man in prison since this is one way to stay in touch with him. Well actually I type them since my handwriting is horrible. Other than that i still do a Christmas letter to a favorite aunt and one friend and his wife from my early youth.
Beautiful post! I need to send more letters. I just received one from my cousin this past week. It was so good to hear from her. I keep all of the cards that my mother sends me. I have lots of little zippered bags in my closet just filled with those cards…
Another wonderful blog, Beth Ann. Letter writing is wonderful for the writer and the person receiving. When my Chuck was going through his chemo, I would set with him and wrote letters to church family, family, and friends. I can not tell you what peace and good feelings it gave me. I was told many times what the letters meant to the people I sent them too The Lord laid it on my heart to do this and I am so happy I listened. It helped me deal with a lot. The personal touch, I think, is always the best. <3
I truly do bemoan the fact that we don’t write letters any more. Matter of fact, I’ve blogged about that a couple of times in the past. From the time I was a child, I loved getting mail and a letter was just the best thing ever! I even had a pen pal and we wrote to each other for many years as children, teens, and beyond. We actually have kept contact with each other and once a year at Christmas, we write an actual letter to each other. Having moved so many times, I did have to downsize a lot of “treasures” and unfortunately, boxes of letters and cards had to go. But I still wish I had some of those letters. A far away friend and I do write occasional letters to each other now, but often for speed, we email or text. Just not the same though! A lovely post today, Beth Ann; how special that your mother-in-law kept those letters. ♥
I love getting mail. I have several cards and letters tucked away in a box from my childhood. I should send out more mail and cards! I can’t even remember the last time that I sent out an email letter. All of my communication is in the form of Facebook messenger these days.
I think that is the case with many of us. The quickness of texting and emailing and messaging takes precedence over an actual letter. There is nothing wrong with that because sometimes I have to do that so I don’t forget but I still love a letter.
My mom saved my letters too. It made me cry when I found them all bundled together in a desk drawer. I saved them too and someday I will look at them. She used to write to HER mother once a week on little postcards (cheaper than letters! LOL). I wrote to her every week for years until email came along. I think we lost something then. There was something so nice about finding a real paper letter in the mailbox. I still write letters, but not nearly as often. I was just thinking that I hadn’t heard from my college roommate this past Christmas and I needed to call. Bet she’d like a letter though.
I love that your mom saved your letters, Dawn. That is a very special thing and should make you feel so happy that she thought enough of them to save them. I agree with the thought that we lost something with email. I love to email but nothing takes the place of a letter.
I treasure handwritten letters, those I’ve received in the past and the rare ones I still get from one aunt and from a friend. There’s something especially loving about a pen put to paper to share one’s thoughts and news.
I love that you have all these letters. What a gift.
I agree that there is something very loving about the pen to paper thing. It also means someone took the time to actually sit down and think about writing some words to you, right ? Love that you have a couple of people who still bless you this way.
Real privacy fanatics write letters…and maybe more of us should get into that habit, but, like, the post office is four whole blocks away from the cafe where I can send and receive e-mail! (How lazy we’ve become.)
AND it is 50 cents to mail a letter now, right? Far cry from the good old days!
I hope writing letters doesn’t become a thing of the past. Handwritten cards really make my day and I have so much sending them.