The one good thing about not seeing you is that I can write you letters. ~Svetlana AlliluyevaI am a huge advocate for the written word.
Honestly, as much as I love and rely on technology for communications with the world beyond my own doorstep...
...there is something so heartfelt about a hand-penned letter, placed in a hand-licked and carefully address envelope, and slipped into a mailbox.
It requires patience and love and a steadfast hand.
It's a discipline and a virtue, one of which I am a devoted follower.
I received my first penpal at the tender age of 11 with a little girl I met through a Christian children's magazine...
...and then continued with my letter-writing delights at the age of 14 with a guy friend I met at Family Camp, with whom I still have a wonderful friendship with to this very day.
And now, I have just recently begun a new mailbox-connected friendship with my beautiful friend Grace of Puddles of Memories.
There is something so entrancing about the idea about sitting down at a table, taking a pen between my fingers, and allowing my thoughts to flow out from me onto the page...
...sharing everything, no matter how trivial, with someone who waits in a different part of the country to hear my soul's musings.
There is magic in the art of the pen and paper.
The computer has its delights and its requirements, that is certain.
But the whispered mystery of the written word...
...novels made of paper, fragrant with ink and unspoken promises of lands to come...
...the scritching sound made as my pen traces across the blank page of a eagerly-waiting journal, aching to fill its empty spaces with teardrops and overwhelming joys...
...letters written in the careful hand of a patient and tender friend...
These things have held me spellbound all my life.
And regardless of technology,
I would rather hold the words in my palm.
The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity. ~Walt Whitman
Yes yes yes yes YES! The pen is mightier than the...keyboard? Teehee! I'm afraid, though, I was a little frazzled, so my letter is less than poetic and thought-provoking. I promise better epistles in the future, though!
ReplyDelete@Grace: I never asked for poetry. I ask for heartfelt ramblings and over-the-top delightful explosions of emotions. =)
ReplyDeleteWell, then: ramblings I can promise, and many emotional explosions to come. ;)
ReplyDeleteThough technology makes sending faster, I still prefer hand-written letters which are more memorable.
ReplyDeleteOh how I love hand-written letters. There's something incredibly magical and personal about them. I'm a self-proclaimed paper collector--and proud of it. Which means I have dozens of stationery sets that I long to use even though I don't nearly often enough.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've always wished for a penpal that I'd never met in real-life before. Someday perhaps...
this is such a beautiful post! your writing is so elegant.
ReplyDeleteit makes me so sad that most people have lost the art of the handwritten letter. they don't realize what they are missing!
Megan
letterstorome.blogspot.com