Say It the Old Fashioned Way

I'm a sentimentalist. Over the course of my life, I've saved things that others might not....like cards and letters. (Not every one I've ever received...but I do have quite a few and they date back to when I was a kid.)

Perhaps I have a mild case of "pack rat fever" - but read on and you'll see why I'm glad I was "afflicted."  :)

If you're younger than 30, the whole idea of letters, cards and any type of personal communications associated with the postal service may seem like some quaint notion from yesteryear. There was a time, though, when letters were a fact of life; it's how we communicated if separated geographically.

We relied on the mail because we had to; it was quite expensive to make long distance phone calls (those calls were rationed and kept brief when they did occur). 

As for the greeting cards? They were a staple. No such thing as electronic birthday cards or texts... I attended college 200 miles from my home - but I may as well have been on the other side of the planet. Like everybody else, I maintained contact with my folks and friends who were at other schools via letters. I saved a lot of them.

I'm not sure how I decided which to keep. Many of the letters my mother wrote to me while I was away at school made the cut even though there's nothing earth-shattering or particularly newsworthy in any of them. Did I have some sort of preminonition that she would be stricken with a massive stroke while I was still in college - and that writing would become difficult for her after that? No. But whatever prompted me to save so many of them, I'm glad the spirit moved me, so to speak.

Years later, after my job had taken me away from my home state and my mother passed away, I started to save virtually everything my dad sent me. Though he and I spoke nearly every day by phone, we wrote each other as well.

Now that both my folks are gone, I am so very glad to have these mementos. They're priceless. (I found among them a Valentine in which my mother had written a beautiful note; with Valentine's Day just passed, there was something pretty special about that.)

My suggestion: find yourself a pen and paper and write a letter to someone who is dear to you. Tell them how much they mean and how much you love them. While it's likely they already know it...there is nothing like seeing those words committed to paper. 

If they're like me and save special correspondence, there is a good chance they'll open that letter many times over the years to come - and it will warm their heart each and every time they read it.