Old-Fashioned
“E-mails,
phone calls, web sites, videos. They're all letters, basically, and
they've come to outnumber old fashioned conversation. They are the
conversation now.”
Walter
Kirn
I have to tell you, I
hate this about modern life. Believe me, I use all these devices and
distractions every single day, but I really miss snail mail and
face-to-face conversation. As a person who lives alone and works
alone most of the time, sitting down to a nice meal, a glass of wine,
and a good friend who loves conversation is the pentacle of pleasure.
I don't know if that's an age-thing, or not—my friends have
begun teasing me about where the good cafeterias are since I'm now in
the category of folks who might frequent them.
I have fond memories of
going to the post office, checking for mail in the ornate metal box,
the smell of it, the excitement of seeing an envelope in the tiny
enclosure. I remember waiting impatiently, counting the days for a
response from a friend or lover. My grandmother, Mama, wrote long
newsy letters. I still have a few. And of course, the thin blue
air-mail envelopes that came from men at war. I know it's old
fashioned, but then so am I, so it's okay. I love it when we get
vintage postcards to list on eBay. The brilliant calligraphy is a
lost art. Sometimes, just the scrolling signature is worth the price.
So you'll understand how
excited I am that my friend, Cedric, a writer himself, who's away at
graduate school, asked if we could communicate by letter writing. I
jumped on it. I sat down yesterday and drew a little picture of the
journey—the road through the mountains, the city in the distance,
his car making its way there. It will be on the front of his first
letter from me. You see, it's the very personal nature of the
communication that makes all the difference when you hand-write a letter.
It takes time to prepare the material, to compose your words, to
decide what's worth writing about. You put a lot of yourself into it,
and that comes through. It says I care enough about you to give this
some thought. It's like a good conversation on paper.
If you have time today,
instead of sending an email or a tweet, write a soulful little note
to someone you care about. Put your thoughts down on paper, share yourself in this
private and personal way. It's really okay to be old-fashioned.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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