Letter Writing

When I looked up "letter writing" on google, I came up with lots of posts and articles about the "Lost Art of Letter Writing." Many people lament, while others don't and praise the advent of email and computers (as I write on a computer. . . .).

Of course, I've reached a point in my life that I'd rather get an email than no communication at all, and email is the primary mode of written expression from my children, plus cell phone calling.

I grew up moving around to different military bases, and so letters were the main way to keep in touch back in the 1950's-1970's. Long distance telephoning was too expensive and there were no computers. I remember seeing my father sitting at the kitchen table each week, typing, on an old manual typewriter, a letter to his mother in Arkansas. I saw my mother writing letters to her parents and sister. And each time I moved, I kept in touch with friends through letters, which is a major reason why NKE and I are still such good friends, especially when one remembers that we only lived near each other once --when we were in Japan on a Naval Base.

I have an elderly cousin who lives in Alberta, Canada who writes lengthy letters--often over ten pages long. She writes a long letter enclosed in each book she gives my children and me each Christmas. I used to write letters like that, especially to NKE, but am more likely to write on notecards these days.

I am very touched when I receive a handwritten letter or note. I like to write them to people myself. When I see someone's handwriting, I can guess who the author is before I see a name. Some would say that handwriting indicates personality traits, but now few people spend much time handwriting at all.

When I cleaned out my parents' house after my father's death in 2002, I found a notebook full of letters that my mother sent to her parents while she served as a U.S. Marine in Hawaii during WWII. It is wonderful to have such a record of her in her own handwriting.

I view this as a thoughtful and heartfelt way to communicate, but others don't see it this way. (And I know time gets in the way.) I am thinking that I have a lost era's viewpoint about letters that modern people do not value, plus I may be succumbing to the ease and speed myself.