The Death of the Letter

I've been really fortunate in my life to have had significant and meaningful correspondences.

And, I suppose because I'm a saver and "would-be" writer, I have kept most everything that I've been given.

From time to time, I've read through old letters, postcards, and journals and it's transported me back to amazing memories in my life.  Some of the most powerful have been when I studied abroad and lived far away from my loved ones.

Some of the letters are over 15, 20 years old and are still in fantastic shape. But through my perusing, one glaring observation comes to mind, most of them were written many moons ago with few since the turn of the century. 

We all know that with the advent of email, text messaging, facebook, skype, it is rare to receive a letter in the mail.  With the rising cost of postage and the ease of a few key strokes, most of us would rather communicate in cyber form.

But, ah, I really love ink to paper.  I am enamored by the content and the way in which the lines are written.  And my favorite part, is the feeling I get when I look inside the mailbox and see an envelope with my name written on it.  There's nothing better.

I admit that I'm guilty when it comes to not sending a handwritten letter as much as I should...but I think in the new year, I'm going to surprise a few people.  It's just too important not to.