A Lost Art

There are many things that I would consider "lost arts" today. Proper music composition (or at least, the appreciation of composition). Cooking from scratch. Knitting (although it's making a comeback). And letter writing. You know, with a pen and some paper. And a stamp.

I love writing letters. I have written them since childhood and they are the reason that I am so close to so many people--without letter writing, I would have never become close to my cousin in New York, or kept in touch with my childhood best friend who moved to Florida when we were eight. In fact, my best friend, Rebecca, and I took letter writing to a new level and created what we called "junk boxes." We would take a shoe box and fill it with letters and little things around the house that we thought the other would appreciate. I have fond memories of junk boxes. In fact, I remember getting special permission from my mother to make a long distance call so Rebecca and I could have a very crucial conversation about junk boxes.

I love thinking about what is important to an eight year old. They are the things that should be more important to us as we progress into adulthood.

But I digress.

Even after the invention and rapid expansion of e-mail, I still cherished letter writing and kept it up as much as possible. Nothing was more wonderful that receiving an envelope in the mail with the familiar penmanship of a cousin or friend far away.

While in college, I spent quite a bit of time studying in Europe. Although I always had access to excellent internet connections, I kept in touch with certain people primarily through letters, and I saved every single one because for me, they were little bits of home and therefore highly treasured.

I never thought that others might feel the same about the letters I wrote them until a recent conversation with my college roommate and adulthood best friend, Sara. Sara told me that after she and her husband moved to Florida, she took out all the letters that I had written to her during the course of our friendship and re-read all of them. The mere fact that she kept them floored me, not to mention the fact that she thought they were important enough to haul all the way to Florida and then to re-read them!

Because of that, I decided to pick up the old habit of letter writing. As I thought about the possibilities, I grew more and more excited. Now, I would have an excuse (besides bills) to buy stamps! Maybe if I wrote people, they'd write me back! Because of the conversation, I decided that the first recipient should be Sara. After all, she was a large part of the inspiration, plus our text messages were getting way too long. So, I sat down with my trusty Waterman fountain pen and wrote her.

And the word on the street is, she has written me back.

I love knowing that a letter is on its way.

Now, go write a letter.