wait a minute mr postman

You know what I really miss? postcards! and letters! I miss getting things that aren't bills in the mail! Whatever happened to writing to those that you care about? I am not saying we all need to go out and write our Aunt Gertrude and third-cousin Suzy every week, but what about the people that hold a special place in our hearts that we don't get to see very often? I can't remember the last time I have received an actual, legit, letter via snail mail... I know it has been years. I barely remember the last e-mail I got that was more than five or six lines long that wasn't spam. When my ex was in Iraq, we e-mailed back and forth for awhile, but that was it. And even that was more of a rarity after the first month. Sometimes I will send Facebook messages back and forth with friends, but that is really about it. As for everyone else, it is the era of the text message. Anytime any one of us has something to say, we just shoot off a text and, voila! I suppose it gets the job done, and I am a texting fiend myself, but it just isn't quite the same.

Sure, getting an picture message from someone with a snapshot of a crazy lady in Wal-Mart can be fun. I love that I can see how the weather is at the beach thirty seconds after you have. But none of this compares to that neat feeling you get when you open your mailbox and there's a postcard from a friend, mailed from some podunk town somewhere along their summer road trip. Maybe it is because you know, when you open that postcard or that letter, that that friend had to make an effort to get that to you. He or she had to purchase the postcard or the stationary. Then, there was some writing involved. After that, stamps had to be acquired and your address had to be looked up. Then your friend made a special trip to take the mail to the post office or mailbox, and the postal workers did all kinds of work to bring that piece of paper halfway across the country to you two days later. Writing a letter isn't an afterthought. It's not something you can do while at a stoplight, in line at the grocery store, or, God forbid, on the toilet (yes, I know people who do this).

A few years back, an internet friend of mine proposed that we start some sort of underground mail gang thing. I know he sent me a really awesome letter to start things off, but I don't know if I ever even replied back. I wish I had. I wish we still had pen pals, too! I love technology and all that, but sometimes I feel like it doesn't really bring us together after all, but instead keeps us all a safe distance apart.

I am writing myself a note right now: write letters this week. I know that I won't do it just because I said I would, so let's just say this...if I don't write (and mail!) at least two letters and/or postcards in the next seven days, I will give up Facebook for a week. Okay, at least a weekend. Wish me luck!