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Return of the Snail





I hope that snail mail and hand written letters make a come back. It is my favorite form of communication and as great as emailing, texting, skyping…or even blogging are, they will never compare. My grandparents communicated solely by snail mail when my grandfather would be over seas in the Navy for 8 or more months at a time. My grandmother still has these letters and tells stories about writing everyday, putting all the other Navy wives to shame, and waiting in anticipation for a response. Now she only gets letters from me, and they aren’t nearly as romantic. But she has taught me the importance of the art.

Well, this is a little different than distance-torn lovers living letter to letter, but two of my best friends in the world and I have a chain-letter-pact-thing (official title)… and it is consistently one of the highlights of my weeks. When we graduated UVa and left Charlottesville (Aka, not eating, sleeping, studying, eating, running, farmer-marketing, churching, talking, eating, snuggling, laughing, crying, eating, etc. together anymore) we were so sad, and this pact was what kept us sane during the transition process. (On second thought, we highly resemble distance-torn lovers). Corrine writes a single letter to LT and I, and she sends it to me. Then, I read her letter, write a new letter to LT and Corrine and mail it to LT. But I put Corrine’s letter in the envelope. LT opens her envelope to see not 1, but 2 letters! from her best friends, and she in turn writes one. She sends her letter and my letter back to Corrine and the chain continues.

I got my letters in the mail yesterday and I think my day got ten times better just by seeing both of their handwriting and hearing about their lives. There is something about someone’s handwriting that is so telling. You always know the people you loves’ handwriting. It's as familiar as your own.
We still talk on the phone (three way calling in true middle school girl style) when we can, and we text each other every so often, but this letter chain has been such a blessing in my life and an aid in my transition from experiencing day-to-day life with my best friends, to only seeing them on special occasions.

So, I’m telling you. If you want to keep in touch with someone, try snail mail for awhile. Tell me if it doesn’t bring you a new kind of communication-joy (official term)when you send a letter, and a week later you get one in return.

Oh, and Coco and LT. Ti Voglio Bene!!!
Love,
Me






4 comments:

  1. Okay, I need to get back into the habit of writing real letters! I love seeing my friends' handwriting, so I suppose they in turn love seeing mine. It is indeed so very personal -- even the almost illegible scrawls.

    Speaking of illegible scrawls, I've typed up about 1/2 of the letters my parents wrote each other (daily) during WWII while she was in Texas and he was on a small ship in the South Pacific. I've posted them on a blog -- http://ww2letters.wordpress.com/ -- but have run out of gas with posting because I have to wade through my dad's terrible writing to type his letters... Really need to get back on that too!

    Good, sweet post. I like your chain letter idea.

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  2. I love that Elise! How smart to write one letter but get two in return. Inspirational :-)

    On another note (ha) we loved getting to see Adam this weekend- so happy for you both that you get to be in the same state! -Becca

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  3. Love it! Kristina and I have done snail mail for years and you are right, there is nothing like it!

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