HANDWRITTEN LETTERS

In an era not too long ago, a popular mode of communication was the hand-written letter, delivered via to you via the United States Postal Service right to your mailbox.

I was introduced to this form of communication at an early age by my grandmother. She began writing letters to me as a child and I would correspond back to her. This correspondence continued throughout my college years. In fact, I have practically every letter I received from my grandmother from the time I went off to college in 1992 until she died in 2000. Several months ago I went through those letters, organized them by date, and placed them in a plastic storage container. Some of the letters, especially near the end of her life, brought back warm memories and even a few tears.

My college friends and I, in an age before the prevalence of electronic communications, would spend our summers writing letters to one another. It was not uncommon to send and receive a 10 or 12 page hand-written letters. Now, I would be hard-pressed to even tell you the last time I received a hand-written letter. It may very well have been the final letter I received from my grandmother, just weeks before her death.

Here's my confession: I miss this by-gone form of communication. After my grandmother died, I would go to my mailbox for several weeks waiting for that one final letter from her. It never came. Writing letters to me has always been a cathartic outlet. From time to time I will still take the effort to write a letter by hand, but sadly, not nearly as often as I once did. I have fallen into the electronic communications age. While not hand-written, I do tend to write long emails when I do write. Writing has long been my chosen form of expression. Whether hand-written or electronic, it's still a part of my heart. However, I have to admit that I still long for the warmth that comes from opening the mailbox and finding a card or letter from a loved one. It doesn't happen that often, so I guess that's what makes it all the more special.