I remember going to the postal office and sticking a stamp on an envelope every now and then because I was a kid and it hurt paying for that piece of paper. :-) Later on i got it and I started collecting stamps, as probably everyone of us used to do. There’s some really impressive (and expensive) stamps out there.
Those were nice times when you had to actually get out of the house to send a message, or make a long phone call.
I had this friend in Brasov and we used to write quite a lot of letters back and forth. I think it was in the order of tens per year. And there was also the nice feeling of excitement when receiving an envelope. You read it and then you could keep it in a box, together with all the other envelopes.
So, how about today? Isn’t this quite illustrative?
We’re overwhelmed by emails and we barely hand write. Not just letters, but in general.
I realize that I spent couple of years here in Spain and I only did email, IM, video chat or face to face meetings with my family and friends. But I sent no letter! They won’t have anything to remember about my staying here. A written letter is personal, you can hold it in your hand and you can see the paper getting old. An email will only be digital, in case you don’t erase it as we usually do when we’re overwhelmed by data.
So what I will do is go out, purchase an envelope, draw some lines on a piece of paper, and write my first letter in years.
If you have a friend or family that’s far away, do so as well! I am sure they will love this experience we seem to have forgotten.