Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Letter-Writing

The other night, I sat down and penned a letter to a dear friend of mine in Toowoomba. I love to write in longhand and she enjoys hearing from me. I also include a piles of photos when I post off my 4-7 page letters to her.

Now, you're going to ask me: why don't you email her? It's cheaper and she can download the photos in a sinch. 

Well, my friend is Joan Lane and she's 80. I've known her since I around 6 years old and holidaying at Brunswick Heads.  She's kind of like my second Grandmother and her and her now-late husband, Ted became close family friends of ours over the years.

Joan doesn't have the internet and wouldn't know how to turn on a computer; actually, these modern-new-fangled things scare her. So, when I learned of this, I decided to write her letters and post them to her. She loves receiving mail and I don't mind if she never writes back; as she's not all that great at writing letters.
So, about 3 times a year, I write Joan a lovely long letter, with photos included inside, telling her about what I've been up to in my life. She loves reading about it; and she shares the news and photos with her family. 

Do you still retain the skill of letter-writing? Do you have a collection of stationery at your disposal? Or do you sit and email all your friends; and if you have somebody who doesn't have a computer, you don't go near pen and paper for them? I love writing to Joan. It's reminds me of how tactile the act of letter-writing actually is and that we really shouldn't lose the skill of writing a really good letter to somebody we're friends with... it may be something we'll really treasure from somebody else someday. Until my next post, happy reading.

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