Hand~Written Letters …
Stop , oh yes , wait a minute Mister Postman
Wait , wait Mister Postman
Please Mister Postman look and see
If there's a letter in your bag for me ……
Can you remember this classic song by The Carpenters ? This song has been ringing in my ears for the last 2 weeks , ever since I stumbled upon a post by a fellow blogger about a writing workshop that she attended recently . This workshop involved letter writing … guess what … wait for it … *drum roll* … HAND~WRITTEN LETTERS ! This workshop experience has led to her extending an invitation to any writer/blogger who is willing to correspond with her , to exchange hand-written letters .
Now I cannot begin to describe how excited I felt at the prospect of writing a letter by hand … especially since I haven't done so for years … I can remember , quite vividly , as a teenager (and we're going back m-a-n-y years …) , how it felt to run to the postman , eager to see if he would deliver a letter with a foreign stamp in the top right-hand corner . Those bloggers/writers out there who have had the privilege of being part of the "hand-written-letter-writing-era " , you will identify with this … (and yes , the word privilege applies here . Why ? It will not happen in this lifetime or the next … it belongs to another lifetime that has since passed …)
There is a certain charm and quaintness associated with the physical act of writing a letter . It is a very personal act which involves much more than simply putting pen to paper . You have to be prepared to open up and bare your inner self … expose yourself to a certain degree …
I have posted my first letter and let me tell you … what a feeling ! I cannot describe it because it is a mixture of emotions ranging from excitement , apprehension , reticence , oh yes … and the de-ja vu was real … been there done that, but in another lifetime … and I will be watching the postbox , eagerly awaiting that letter with the foreign stamp in the top right-hand corner !
Are there any readers who want to share their thoughts/ideas on the subject ?
There was always a mystery around it waiting for new knowledge from the other person's letter. I remember it all to well. I once had a pen pal from Yorkshire, England. We wrote for several years but lost contact somehow. She moved or I moved and things got messed up in the mail. Her name was Annette.
I know exactly what you mean . I had a number of pen-pals from around the world in my teenage years – like you , we lost contact somehow … it was a very exciting part of my life and , over the years , I’ve always wondered what happened to these people …
There's nothing quite like receiving a hand-written letter. I used to write them a lot but now…I think it speaks to the hurriedness of our lives but also to the advances we've made in communication technology.
A hand-written letter adds that special , personal touch to the art of communication ! And yes , the advancement of technology comes with certain compromises … like the dying out of hand-written letters .
Oh yes! I used to exchange letters with my grandmother. When she died, I found that she had saved boxes of my letters to her from the time I was a child up through my teen years. It was wonderful to read through them all as an adult! And the joy of receiving a hand written letter from a BOYFRIEND while away during the summer was amazing. I just don't think texts are the same. Foreign penpals were another wonder. You brought back many pleasant memories.
This is so cool ! I also have many pleasant , vivid memories linked to letter-writing . Thanks for sharing with me lolamouse , I really appreciate it !
I love hand written letters! I write often to friends from other countries that I have, but I usually get e-mail reply 🙂 which is kind of sad … There is nothing like coming home from a long day and finding a letter in your post box. The hand writing can say so much about the person and the mood he/she was writing the letter. It's beautiful! I like this post!
In my humble opinion , there’s no other form of correspondence that can replace the hand-written letter … not the sms , e-mail , twitter , facebook … it forms part of a “personal treasure trove” … it’s so much easier to delete all mail from your inbox , but you’ll be reluctant to discard a pile of old hand-written letters ! 🙂