Today, I was thinking about my granddaughter's graduation. I bought a card, but then I thought it would be nice if I added a letter to the card. I walked through my local Walmart and couldn't find any stationery! In the Hallmark section, there was a few choices of "writing sets" but it was note cards and such, not stationery! That used to be a "staple gift" to give to moms back in the 60s and 70s for birthdays or Mother's Day, but they probably don't sell well, so they've been removed from the store shelves. I could locate journals, binder paper, yellow legal pads, copy paper, note cards, greeting cards, just no stationery to be found! In the 80s, I used to buy legal pads with lavender colored paper, but couldn't find any of that either.
So what's the deal? Am I so old that I can remember the lost art of writing letters to people? After I moved from California to Ohio, long distance calls were expensive, so I wrote long letters to Mom and Dad to let them know how things were going. Each year when I sent out Christmas cards, I always included a family letter (hard to make short notes when you're raising six kids!) . I always enjoyed the process of letter writing - taking time to create a letter that told a story, had a purpose, and sometimes included some humor as well!
I'm not sure what the real downfall was, but we all know that technology played a huge part. Back in the day, we'd all look forward to whatever the postman would bring. Now it's just a pile of junk mail or worse, bills. Wouldn't it be exciting to get an occasional letter again?? Email and text messages are nice, and I'll take that over nothing, but a well composed letter is a joy!
I'm also into genealogy and finding out not just stats about my ancestors, I like to know a few other things as well, and those kinds of gems are usually in letters written back and forth! How I wish that I had a few more of those letters. I have a few, along with some postcards, and I treasure them now!
For the generations that have grown up with technology, they haven't learned to treasure the words written by a loved one, words chosen to be written on a page and perhaps treasured for many years, even many generations. So take a moment or two to and write someone a letter. You may not realize the difference you're making in someone else's day!
