Thursday, February 12, 2009

The lost art of letter writing

In this day of email and text-messaging, how many letters have you received lately? I know for myself, the answer would be very few. Everyone seems to prefer instant messaging or grabbing the cell phone (which some people seem to virtually live on) and talking/texting their friends. I can't imagine very many of those messages are saved and/or treasured.

As a girl, I used to keep every little note or card that I received, regardless of who it was from. I suppose I'm dating myself when I say it was a common practice back then,lol. But I treasured those communications and read them often. I guess because it meant someone took the time to think about me and write that special message for me.

Of course, I realize that letter writing is not totally exstinc, but ask yourself how many you've written in the last month, or received. I bet you can count the number on one hand. And no counting those yearly xeroxed Christmas letters... we're not exactly talking personal there.

So one of my goals for the New Year is to write more letters to a variety of different people. Some of them will be to extended family, but many will be to others who have had an influence on my family in some small way, as well as to the elderly in our church family. I have a feeling they would especially appreciate it.

My goal for the year is 100 letters, which evens out to about 10 a month for the rest of the year. Which is really not that many, once you sit down and get started. To help myself with this, I picked up this journal to keep track of the people I write to. I have my first ten already listed, with my goal being to have those written by the end of February. I'd like to challenge my fellow bloggers to do the same. I know many of you listed this same goal in your beginning of the year resolutions. How are you doing on that? lol Don't you hate it when people check back on those resolutions?:)

And remember, your notes don't have to be especially long, though mine do tend to be so. Kind of like the comments I leave all over the blog-world; some people have even hinted that I'm a tad bit long-winded;) I won't mention any names, but you know who you are...

I plan to give an update on my progress periodically to help keep myself accountable. So anyone who would like to join me in that way is free to do so.

Have a great day~

14 comments:

Mrs. Darling said...

Letters still roll in all the time to my mailbox because my sisters and brothers dont have computers and because the women on hubbys side of the family dont know how to use computers. (save his sis) LOL

But I sure am delinquent in in writing them myself. This is one area that our pastors wife has it licked. (what a pun) Has it licked? As in she writes tons of note and as in the word licked like envelopes licked. Bwahahahaha!

Love your note cards or stationary, or whatever it is there.

Frasypoo said...

Thats an advantage of living so far away from home !
I write letters to my grandma in my language,its hard as I am not very good at it but she appreciates the efforts.She mails letters to me too and I save every single one.

PS:Definitely will be able to help you with planning a cruise.I am an expert!Deals are really good now

Kaye said...

I think this is an awesome idea. I still insist on handwritten thank you notes and actual birthday cards, but otherwise have completely lost practice in doing this. There are so many people I know that would appreciate it...whether or not they have a computer.

Nikki said...

I like to send notes, too, but I still don't do it very often. It's one of those things that you think take too long, but in actuality, I can write a pretty nice note and address it in less than fifteen minutes. That's not long at all. Letters are so much more personal than emails, too. Most of the emails I get are less than a paragraph and don't say anything. Letters on the other hand, well, you have to fill up two pages with something!

Marva said...

Yes dear, I know you're speaking to me! LOL! I actually have been doing this pretty regular. I have an aunt that has cancer once again, I send her a pseical card each week. I also have sent a couple of nice cards to my uncle that had an accident with a saw. The sympathy cards are flying to the mail box these days and I got my parents a nice card to let them know I am thinking of them, just last week.

I also am sending out a few Valentine's cards this week.

So, there you have it. Your goal sounds wonderful. Let us know how it goes and make me stay accountable! Thank you!

Blessings!

MyKidsMom said...

Marva: I wasn't talking ONLY about you,lol. Though it sounds like you're putting me to shame with all those cards going out. I'm sure that they are greatly appreciated by those receiving them.

Mrs.D: Yes, I've noticed that she is quite prompt on the thank you cards. She has sent the Princess several notes as well, and I keep them in her memory box. She loves to take them out and pretend to read them.

Frasypoo: It's wonderful that you keep in contact with your grandma that way. I think older people appreciate letters the very most; it shows people haven't forgotten them.

Kaye: I'm like you, writing the occasional birthday and thank-you card. Maybe we can help each other turn over a new leaf in this area. I know with me it's a matter of just doing it on purpose, instead of getting caught up in all the bustle around me.

Nikki: That's exactly why I rarely email anyone. It has it's use in some areas, but it really does lack a personal touch. And you're right, even as busy as we think we are, most of us have time to write a letter or two each week.

Sandy said...

Wow, good job on the letter-writing. I really try to keep up with thank you notes!

bigSIS said...

Writing weekly handwritten cards and letters is one of my goals this year. I've been doing good so far. As a teenager I was forever writing letters. I remember once writing a 20-some page letter to this MAN I had a crush on (my BF brother). He told my husband he never read them! I was crushed...at 30 yrs old. :( I still like to write letters so I have quite the list of people to write to. I'm hoping to maybe get a few letters back.

Wendy said...

Yay for you! This is such a great idea and a reasonable goal, too. Have you seen the 365 Letters blog? It's a great project she is doing over there, but one I wouldn't be able to sustain. Also, you might check out A Passion for Letter Writing

Nikki said...

We're back! And I'm catching up. But while we were traveling, I thought more about this post. Who all do you plan to write? I enjoy writing letters, but I just don't have many people to write. Honestly, I hate writing people who don't write me back. I would join you in this challenge if I could think of more people to write.

Mrs. Darling said...

...and so she got busy writing those letters. She knew it would take a lot of paper so the first order of business was to purchase huge cardboard boxes of the stuff. She had lots of friends and now that she had committed to letter writing there was a lot of work to do.

Busily she set about sorting through the papers in each box, for she had ordered many varied shades and hues and sundry designs befitting the individual who would receive the cards.

Now if only she could see what was in that box way up there on the top of the stack.

Carefully she placed her foot on the first box. Maybe she could just reach high enough..no, she had to climb to the next box. Now her fingertips were touching the upper box. Just a wee bit more and she would have it! Crash! Down came the pile of boxes! Paper flew everywhere! Boxes tumbled on each other and alas, on top of the lady.

Now the good woman lies buried under a pile of beautiful stationary patiently waiting for someone to rescue her. She thinks of her blog and how it remains stagnant, nary a post in days now. Well the people would have to wait. After all there certainly isnt much she could do about it with all that paper and cardboard on her. And it wasnt like she hadn't tried to get those letters written!! And so she waits....

and all her readers wait with her....

Nikki said...

Mrs. Darling, I wondered if that is what happened to her. And how you described her situation is so poetic. Maybe we should send someone to check on her?

By the way, you wrote that with such a good description that I have to wonder if it happened once to you?

MyKidsMom said...

Go talk on your own blogs ladies,lol.

I promise I'll post tomorrow:) I just wanted to see if anyone would miss me;)

rachel said...

I love those note books thanks for the comment on my blog. I love those I really really do. I want to make some of those now. Thanks for the idea.