I was unloading groceries the other day, when my husband brought in the mail. With a quick glance I noticed a gold envelope which was set apart from any bills and advertising, so I took a closer look. Sure enough, it was a hand-written letter from an old friend. I stopped what I was doing and opened the envelope and began reading…it was so fun to receive. Forget the groceries, this was much more important.
I’m not too surprised at my reaction. I don’t get many letters these days and it sure was a fun surprise. She told news of her family, and gave a response to a story I had written. She also included a poem and a haiku… It was great to hear from her.
Getting what has become known as “snail mail” these days is unusual, but a delightful and welcomed gift…if anyone is so inspired…it can make someone’s day.
The Zoom App has been a great tool for connecting with others and I’m grateful for it. It uses modern technology to deliver its capabilities.
The other day I gathered some stationery and a pen and used the old fashioned technology of letter writing to keep in touch.
Recently my writing buddy and I challenged each other to write a couple of letters, long-hand, to someone (no typing it on the computer and printing it out). This extra time we find ourselves with at home lends itself to doing just that and I did. I have written two letters now and plan to do more. It is therapeutic. My handwriting isn’t what it used to be and I hope the recipients can read it. It was interesting to note my hand got tired after writing cursive. The letters were two and three pages long.
They say cursive is the secret language of the elderly because it is being eliminated from school curriculum and so kids in the next generations will not be able to read it. HA
I had some nice stationery given to me by a friend and it was fun to finally use it. I sat on our deck one nice day last week and found it very pleasant to write down my thoughts. The paper was extra nice…and it made the writing flow easier, at least in my mind, and it was a delight to be writing on extra fine paper.
When done writing I address the envelope, pick out a stamp (I like to buy the different themed stamps), apply a return label from the multitude I get free from different organizations, and finally, I add a sticker to the back of the envelope for fun. I then walk out to our mailbox, insert the letters, put the flag up and the postal carrier takes them away and they somehow end up at the correct address, miles away, a few days later. That’s impressive.
The two letters will be a surprise to the people who receive them which adds to the enjoyment of writing them. I plan to do more letter writing, at least for the time-being, during this pandemic.
In the past couple of months I have had two friends lose their husbands. I’m sorry for their loss. It is so incredibly sad.
One of the friends asked for memories to be sent to her, of her late husband, who was not very old. She wanted to compile a booklet for her young grandchildren to remember Grandpa. I thought it was a wonderful idea. It will be a very special gift to her, and her children and grandchildren, now and in the future.
A basket of loving sympathy cards.
Although I was 20 years old at the time when my dad died (young), I do not have a memory book about him, but I sure wish I did.
My “love note” box.
So I got the idea to go and look over the cards my mom received in 1974 when he passed away. I thought I had them, but I guess I don’t. I asked my brother and he doesn’t have them either. I do have cards from when Gary’s mother, father and brother passed, and when my mom passed. I read through them the other day. It was a special time of remembering people, however most cards offered loving condolences but few memories.
Forty-plus years of exchanged cards.
As I looked around the different places I might have stored the cards from my dad’s passing I found so many other cards I’ve kept over the years. I asked one friend what I should do with them and she said, “toss them!” I think I might…it’s hard…but I’m not sure of alternatives…
One of two boxes of cards from family and friends.
One box I call “love notes” – special cards people have sent to encourage me or thank me. One box is cards Gary and I have given each other over the years…that one I will keep for sure. Another box is sympathy cards, one box is wedding invitations over the years (fun to look at!) and two boxes are of random cards from family and friends, including some birthday cards…and that’s a whole other category.
A treasure chest of wedding invitations.
So, I’ll continue to figure out what to do: how to organize the ones I keep, and decide which ones to toss. And I’ll be asking others… what do they do?
For those who recognize the acronym Y2K (Year 2 Thousand) I’m sure you recall the overall anxiety as the year 1999 came to a close. Some folks thought the end of the world was coming…at midnight!
Image off internet…
Others, myself included, wondered if our computers would handle the change from 1999 to 2000, or would all the computers crash and we’d end up off the grid and lose all our data. These were our fears, of life as we knew it, changing drastically overnight. But we did survive: the computers worked well and changed over to the new century, and the world did not come to an end on that New Year’s Eve.
Image off internet….
In those days, we traditionally celebrated NYE with the same family friends; adults and young adults and kids all together. Each year we would celebrate by eating Christmas leftovers and playing games.
On New Year’s Eve, 1999, we came up with the idea of writing time capsule letters. All nine of us wrote a letter without sharing it with the others. We sealed them and put them in the freezer! Where else? It’s a safe place we thought. These letters were to be opened in the year 2010…or on New Year’s Eve of 2009. I don’t remember what our 2010 letters said and I can’t believe I didn’t save them…but after reading our letters out loud to each other we enjoyed it so much we wrote time capsule letters again, to be opened in the year 2020…or the NYE of 2019.
“Freezer Proof Time Capsule Envelope”
As we visited our friends recently our letters appeared…brought out from a special storage box under the bed. This was an upgrade from the freezer storage system (which had led our youngest son to write on the outside of his sealed envelope….”Special Freezer proof time capsule envelope. Do not thaw until 2020.” Love that humor!)
As we read our letters a few days ago it was very interesting how many predictions came true, and how many amusing thoughts we all had written down. It was fun to read through them to those gathered there.
And yes, we did write more time capsule letters that evening…not to be opened until 2030, or the NYE of 2029.
A few years ago a colleague started sending me postcards from her destinations on business trips, now she will occasional send one from a fun trip destination. I soon started reciprocating and sent her postcards from places I’d visited.
A postcard I recently received in the mail from a friend.
Postcards do seem like something from the past…something people do not send anymore. They tend to send their own snapshots from their cell phone in an email or text message…and what can be better than that? Immediate messages and up-to-date photos. But postcards can be fun too.
I found the ZITS comic strip below amusing.
A ZITS comic Strip.
I began looking at postcards again while traveling, and I buy one or two to get a different perspective than I get on my iPhone camera but in some places it’s hard to find postcards.
For instance, last week my friend and I went into a variety store in a tourist town and asked “Do you have any postcards?” No was the reply, and it happened a second time at the next store. As we continued down the street we saw a carousal of postcards and stepped into the shop to take a look. There were winter scenes and fall scenes but it was springtime and we were seeing such vibrant spring colors, but then we found a collage print and that would do.
The homemade postcard of Galena.
However, the postcards seemed a bit different…a little smaller than normal and the back was blank…no “postage here” or a line separating the message from the address…so we asked the clerk and he said he made the postcards himself (and he worked for the Post Office so he knew the size was OK.) How fun is that? I bought the postcard and sent it off. The personal connection with the photographer made it so much more fun and interesting.
The postcard maker and postal worker. I got permission to post his picture but I didn’t get his name.
I will continue to buy postcards, and send some occasionally…keeping a few postcard stamps available in my purse.
A 100 year commemorative postcard for Rocky Mountain National Park…opened 1915.
A postcard I purchased at a museum store; a drawing by Minnesota artist Adam Turman titled: Cardinal
I bought this postcard in Austria featuring a painting entitled Portrait d’Adele Bloch-Bauer I (Woman in Gold), by Gustav Klimp
Our four “little puppies”. Ross is the one in yellow. I have always loved this photo.
The Bible story about the little boy bringing his lunch to Jesus and it being multiplied came to mind as I was thinking back on a very special friendship.
Thirty-three years ago I called an acquaintance from the church we attended at that time to see if I could bring her lunch since she just given birth to her firstborn son. My firstborn son was 10 months old at the time.
My inexperienced self brought over a tuna fish sandwich in a brown paper bag. But God took that lunch and multiplied it into a deep and lasting friendship. Thank you Lord!
Life went on and we each had another son…so we had four “little puppies” as my friend affectionately called our four boys. They played together for many years and then one sad day their family moved away. However, our friendship continued to grow from yearly trips together.
My friend’s oldest son, Ross, was diagnosed with a rare condition when he was 8 years old. He eventually was confined to a wheelchair. He was on a special trip to Scotland last month where he had respiratory failure and passed away. We attended the memorial service in Indiana this past weekend. Ross was a wonderful young man of God and a light for Jesus. He lived a full and faith-filled life.
