I am a fan of the written word.
The days of epistles may be (sadly) long gone, but whenever I open up my mailbox and find a card, invitation, or something that requires actual handwriting, it never fails to generate an uplifting response. And in my efforts to nearly single-handedly keep stores like Papyrus and Hallmark alive, I've been the recipient of random phone calls of gratitude that quickly transition into rants about how Facebook and Evite have kept humans somewhat emotionally detached from one another. (Even with my handwritten efforts, I probably still randomly hit up various Facebook Walls more than the average person. Maybe I'm just chatty. Or perhaps I just love to hear myself speak. Okay, I don't like where this internal monologue is heading... parentheses must end now.)
Such appreciation by my friends admittedly makes me more a little more cognizant of my efforts to keep the written word alive and decidedly more determined to buy even more cards and stationery. I have boxes upon boxes of blank cards with cute, cuddly animals or inspirational quotes that are likely to cause certain friends to sing my praises and others to projectile vomit upon sight. Regardless of outcomes, I still favor the written word as my favorite form in which to communicate, even if the task of updating the physical addresses of various friends becomes quite a daunting one.
A good friend recently went on for about a half hour about how the only "real" emails he receives nowadays are in the form of getting-to-know-one-another exchanges on various dating sites - okay, maybe the term "dating sites" is a bit generous. After an initial coffee date (or other "get-together"), that correspondence tends to fade as well. The inbox returns to its normal state of cricket chirps. And the physical mailbox remains to be a means of collecting various advertisements that will inevitably find their way to the paper shredder.
I thought quite a good deal on the subject (inevitably leading to this here blog entry) and gave myself a challenge to send more physical mail. The above picture is a sample of what went out in today's mail. Next up, letters on pretty canary-colored paper. You can thank me later, US Postal Service.
The days of epistles may be (sadly) long gone, but whenever I open up my mailbox and find a card, invitation, or something that requires actual handwriting, it never fails to generate an uplifting response. And in my efforts to nearly single-handedly keep stores like Papyrus and Hallmark alive, I've been the recipient of random phone calls of gratitude that quickly transition into rants about how Facebook and Evite have kept humans somewhat emotionally detached from one another. (Even with my handwritten efforts, I probably still randomly hit up various Facebook Walls more than the average person. Maybe I'm just chatty. Or perhaps I just love to hear myself speak. Okay, I don't like where this internal monologue is heading... parentheses must end now.)
Such appreciation by my friends admittedly makes me more a little more cognizant of my efforts to keep the written word alive and decidedly more determined to buy even more cards and stationery. I have boxes upon boxes of blank cards with cute, cuddly animals or inspirational quotes that are likely to cause certain friends to sing my praises and others to projectile vomit upon sight. Regardless of outcomes, I still favor the written word as my favorite form in which to communicate, even if the task of updating the physical addresses of various friends becomes quite a daunting one.
A good friend recently went on for about a half hour about how the only "real" emails he receives nowadays are in the form of getting-to-know-one-another exchanges on various dating sites - okay, maybe the term "dating sites" is a bit generous. After an initial coffee date (or other "get-together"), that correspondence tends to fade as well. The inbox returns to its normal state of cricket chirps. And the physical mailbox remains to be a means of collecting various advertisements that will inevitably find their way to the paper shredder.
I thought quite a good deal on the subject (inevitably leading to this here blog entry) and gave myself a challenge to send more physical mail. The above picture is a sample of what went out in today's mail. Next up, letters on pretty canary-colored paper. You can thank me later, US Postal Service.
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