3/31/14

Writing Cards and Letters

I enjoy writing cards and letters.  It is somewhat of a lost art in our society, with the introduction of email, instant messaging, texts, tweets, and Facebook messages, to name a few.

Often I feel like some messages are better delivered written in my own handwriting. 

I have boxes of letters Paul wrote me before we were married.  I have other correspondence I have received over the years as well.

These things are tactile.  I can feel them.  I can touch them.

You can't do that with a message stored in a folder on your computer.

Receiving a hand written letter is part of an experience.  You have to physically open the envelope.  You unfold the letter or card.  You can see the hand writing of the person who sent you the message.  A part of that person was sent with the letter.

I spent part of my day today writing cards and letters.  I love doing this, and I don't do it often enough. 
 
It is a practice I hope to resurrect in my own life.....to send more written correspondence to people.
 

“How wonderful it is to be able to write someone a letter! To feel like conveying your thoughts to a person, to sit at your desk and pick up a pen, to put your thoughts into words like this is truly marvelous.”
― Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood

There are certain cards I have received that I look at again and again, because their message was a great encouragement to me, and often, if I'm in a bad and depressed place, I can go back to the note and it makes me feel better.

That is one of the joys of sending a note....to encourage another.

And a joy of receiving a note.....to be encouraged by the sender.

If you agree with me on this, I challenge you.  Pick up your pen this week, put your pen to paper, and write someone some words of encouragement and pop it in the mail. 

As Haruki Murakami says in the quote above...."to put your thoughts into words like this is truly marvelous."

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