Sacks and Sacks of Letters

A long time ago (January 06) I made a promise to myself in the form of a New Year’s Resolution to both write more (general) and write more personal letters (specific). I have done alright with this – notably “making the month” of my friend Mo, who was living in the mountains in Alaska studying birds and only receiving (sparse) contact with the “outside world” four+ weeks. She promptly wrote back and caught me up out about a years worth of her life – I sprawled on my bed reading the pages – an event Matt found so momentous that he documented it in several pictures.

My dad, uncle, and grandfather are/were ridiculously witty and prolific letter writers. Letters that make you laugh out loud or shake your head at the adroit prose. Of course they wrote to keep in touch when countries and oceans divided them – before cell phones and email and blogs. But, while my dad is a now a frequent and equally thoughtful emailer, he still sends letters to me in the mail with stamps – typically typed because his artistic handwriting is frequently mistaken for nonsensical scribble. They are just as rich as his pre-email days.

When I was in college he usually put a $20 bill in these letters, a habit he has since retired but the reinstallation of which I would not protest.

There is a singular joy to coming home to find “real” mail. It’s like getting a netflix but warmer and without danger of it making you want to pull out your eyeballs. I’m no technophobe – I won’t pull that alienated by a speed of light changes in technology – blah blah – but there is something so totally different and romantic and special about sending and receiving REAL mail.

So! I have reaffirmed my commitment to written correspondence – sending off four packages this week alone. I was going to call this post “A Letter a Day” but who am I kidding – look how miserably brief our commitment to A Picture a Day was. In fact, I think I can state with certainty that there is no way I’ll be writing a letter every day. But I will try to carry on my family’s legacy.

p.s. If you ever write to me, I’ll write you back.