Regular readers may remember that I received a letter from my neighbour's daughter Laura a couple of days ago. A real, chatty handwritten letter that I can hold in my hands and read as often as I like. And I don't even have to go near the laptop to access it!
It got me thinking... I really miss letters.
Not bills and other rubbish that is posted through our letterboxes, but real handwritten letters from friends and family that have been laboured over with time and love.
I feel sorry for my sister really, because at the age of 13 she has grown up with texting and email. She is so excited to open ANYTHING that arrives in the post addressed to her because birthdays aside, she rarely receives anything.
When I was young (oh God I swore I'd never use that phrase!!!) my Grandma who lives 100 miles away and I used to write all the time. I used to have a German penpal. I still have love letters that a childhood boyfriend sent me. If I recall rightly they are circa 1987 and also contain drawings of his own designs of the original Transformers... oh to be nine years old again! We used to receive letter writing sets for Christmas and birthdays featuring our favorite Care Bear, My Little Pony and Hello Kitty characters. Even my friends and I used to post funny letters to each other, and felt terribly grown up being allowed to walk to the box around the corner to post them.
An arrival of a real letter used to make me feel warm and fuzzy inside, rather like the moment before you open your Christmas presents.
Where has that gone? We have all become so lazy with regard to "snail mail". If I didn't need to write as part of my job (I'm a receptionist/secretary) I'd rarely pick up a pen to write anything beyond cards and shopping lists. The sad thing is that we want everything NOW. We fire off emails completely taking it for granted that it will arrive on the other side of the world in a nano-second.
There is nothing better on a rainy Sunday than making a nice hot chocolate, retrieving my memory box from under the bed and reading my old letters... I'm so glad that I kept them all, mostly still in the carefully opened postmarked envelopes. They still make me feel warm and fuzzy inside :)
Am I the only one feeling nostalgic about good old-fashioned letter writing?
xx
4 comments:
I used to have a pen pal from Canada and i always got so excited when i received a letter through the post from her. I wonder when sending and receiving hand written letters went out of "fashion"?
It is sad knowing it's something that my kids won't experience.
Looking through your old letters sounds like a nice way to spend your afternoon.
l,
Amanda x
No, you are for sure not the only person feeling that way. I love love love letters.
Something you might want to look into, is the "lovely package exchange"? Today is the last day for signups. Just google it, or skip over to my blog.
Snail mail is the very best.
Thank you... perhaps we should start a campaign for real post?! And bring back penpals too, I cannot believe that everyone seemed to have one once!!
I'm sorry that I've missed the deadline for the lovely package exchange, what a great idea!! If there's going to be another in the future I'll definitely look into joining :)
Here's to snail mail past, present and future!
Jo x
I love letters too. The one from circa 1987 sounds really cool, I'd love to have a sneaky peek at that one. We should become pen pals.
;0)
x hel x
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