Do you write letters anymore?

[razz]

Lately, I have been writing letters and really enjoying the personal touch in communicating. I enjoy the thoughts that drift into mind about what to include, how to connect to each different personality etc. Some are simple thank you notes, some are chatty and some just a catch up.

I do have a FB account to check on business pages, I do text, phone, face-time and email with ease and comfort. I even What'sApp but none of them seem as personal or loving as a letter or a note. I like the idea that one can hold the pages, reread and recognize the unique script of each writer.

I am beginning to see it almost as an art form. Anyone else doing this?

[JaneV2.0]

I just wrote a thank you note. That's about it for me.
I do keep in touch with email rather than texting, so that's kind of retro, I guess.

[catherine]

I am very, very bad at snail mail cards and letters and I sorely wish I were better. My DIL is amazing. Everywhere she goes she sends us postcards. I get thank you cards for the smallest things. The post office will erect a statue to her someday.

I was just thinking about how I really need to do a better job at keeping in touch with people. Email makes it easy. But thanks for the inspiration, razz. Maybe I'll write a letter tomorrow (but guaranteed I'll forget to take it to the post office and it will sit here for months until I throw it out.)

[Williamsmith]

I wrote letters to my now wife once fiancé 35 years ago. She still has them. Where will the emails be 35 years from now?

[Tybee]

Yes, I do write letters. I also print photos and put them into the letters. I used to love to get letters with photos in them.
i write my grandchildren and my parents, mostly.

[jp1]

On the one hand I agree that the effort it takes to write them and mail them causes letters to be much more scarce than emails or texts or facebook posts, and therefore more precious. On the other hand I have approximately zero letters saved from my past, either sent or received. So, for me at least, I don't necessarily see a reason to send them.

On the other hand though, I look at the similarity of this question with regard to photos. In the old days I took relatively few. Film cost money. Getting it developed cost money. And I never owned anything other than a mediocre point and shoot camera. As a result there are a relatively limited number of pics from my days in high school, college, young adulthood. I've held onto every single one and if I were to look through them none would be a surprise to me. Now I have a smart phone and literally take probably two or three dozen photos every week. Or far more if I'm on vacation. Just yesterday I took a random walk through a neighborhood I'd never been to and came home with a dozen pics.* I'm sure I have more pictures just of our current cats than I do all of my printed photos from pre-smart phone days. And to be sure, the quality of the current photos is much higher. But will I value the countless photos from this part of my life as much as I do the more rare photos from 20 or 30 years ago when I'm an old man spending my days sitting in a rocking chair on my front porch reminiscing about my life? I don't know.

*this really IS such a pretty city. At least when viewed from a distance...
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[SteveinMN]

Where will the emails be 35 years from now?
I have 20-year-old emails. :D People who want to keep them will keep them; people who don't will not. Not much different from letters. And at least emails can withstand a house fire...

I write snail mail only under duress. Thank you notes, yes. Longer letters? Only to a couple of people who will never have email. And I write those on the word processor and print them out to send.

[Williamsmith]

I still write handwritten notes to people I care about. And I have a chess partner I send snail mail postcards with the next move on it. Crazy huh?

[jp1]

I still write handwritten notes to people I care about. And I have a chess partner I send snail mail postcards with the next move on it. Crazy huh?

Actually that’s not crazy, at least to me. it’s charming. And probably really enjoyable.

[rosarugosa]

I have a couple of people I correspond with by snail mail, and I do send thank-you notes and cards. I have all the notes DH sent me when we were kids.

[razz]

Wonderful WS. Likewise, I still have the letters that my late DH sent me from Nova Scotia where he was working and I was at university in Toronto; plus the map with handwritten pages of each turn to get from Toronto, Ontario through Montreal Quebec to the lower townships 53 years ago. A lot of changes have taken place in the traffic since then.

I attended a showing at a local art gallery some years ago where letters from the past 100-150 years were available for reading. A woman had collected them and the personal information and history of daily life being reported was fascinating and delightful. Pioneers had similar emotions and challenges to those today. I loved that show.


I wrote letters to my now wife once fiancé 35 years ago. She still has them. Where will the emails be 35 years from now?

[Lainey]

I have a couple of people I correspond with by snail mail, and I do send thank-you notes and cards. ....

Same here. For holidays like birthdays my siblings and I have transitioned to emails, but I know that for some people (like my unofficial inlaws who are in their late 80s) getting mail is a big deal. They look forward to seeing what's in the mailbox every day. I just sent them a postcard when we were on vacation in S. Calif. last week and I think it will bring a smile to their faces when they receive it this week.

[Teacher Terry]

I never kept cards, letters or email. Don’t write letters anymore.

[Float On]

A cousin and I write regularly and I try to send my mom a note every week or so. We're very big on hand written thank you notes and there are 6 in my purse today that I need to drop off at the post office, written by my 22 and 21 year old sons.
I use to write a lot, there was a long letter in the mailbox probably every other day and I loved walking to the box and returning to the front porch to open the letters, read, and start an immediate reply.
We had a conversation about pen pals the other day while I was visiting with friends. I wrote to Sandra in Scotland from 3rd grade through the first year or two of college. I haven't found her yet on facebook but wish I would. I was going to college and she was headed to trade school to be a hairdresser. I remember she lived in "Old Smithy Cottage" and I was fascinated by that address because mine was just a plain old Route _ Box__. Their house was a converted stone blacksmith shop in their old village. Almost every village in Scotland has an Old Smithy Cottage!

[Teacher Terry]

I used to write lots of letters. I always did handwritten notes weddings, showers, etc. I still send birthday cards.

[catherine]

I never kept cards, letters or email. Don’t write letters anymore.

I keep them all. I'm ridiculous. But I'm not sorry.

[KayLR]

If I want to correspond with my ex (we're still friends) I do have to snail mail him. In fact right now I have an envelope addressed to him in my purse that I need to add a note to. It contains his cousin's obituary. Ex lives pretty much off the grid. I write him about every 4-6 mo., send him a winter package of handwarmers, books, etc.

I have one other friend I write because she is not online.

[Teacher Terry]

Catherine, the last time I moved I threw away my yearbooks.

[SteveinMN]

Catherine, the last time I moved I threw away my yearbooks.
I tossed mine several years ago after moving those heavy things from floor to closet to bookshelf to floor in this house. Never looked at them; never recall my school years as "the best years of my life"; haven't kept track of but two people with whom went to high school (one is a cousin) and don't know anyone from university. Why was I keeping them? I've never had cause to regret tossing them.

[lmerullo]

I don't write any letters or cards. I have none kept / stored either.

I do have photos - but even still it is a relatively small number. All fit into one storage box.

[iris lilies]

In my youth, I kept mementos from boyfriends because I didnt have a lot of them, boyfriends or mementos! Haha. Also, I liked the idea of one thing at minimum from each relationship, sort of a representstive archive of sentiment. It suited my organizational aesthetic. Then, the stuff started coming regularly, and, secure in these relationships, I tossed most all of it. It was too much, who needs that stuff?!!! Then, there was a period of, to be purposely vague,
insecurity shall we say. I kept everything from that period, dozens. Everything!

so, a few months ago, after all of these things take up space in my head for too long, I sat down, looked at each object and read each missive, and then pitched them all into the fire. Except for about 3 that is! cant let those go yet. But they are occupying unwelcome space in my head so I think they are destined to leave soon.

[Teacher Terry]

Funny thing l I loved high school and it was a great time. I am still really close to 4 of my friends and once every few years we fly to meet each other. Still I had no use for the yearbooks.

[catherine]

Catherine, the last time I moved I threw away my yearbooks.

Wow! I could throw away my college yearbook with no regrets, but I have so many fond memories of high school, I can't imagine throwing it out. I would have to ask myself if I have any use for it at all, but I still enjoy looking at it from time to time, especially around reunion time. And since I have my 50th coming up in 2 years (Yikes!!) I'll keep it until 2021 at least.

[Teacher Terry]

I wasn’t always like this but I have definitely changed in this area. I have cleaned out 2 in laws homes and it wasn’t fun. I am finding myself less attached to things as I age. I also helped some friends clean out because they were dying and their stuff was nothing but a burden and not fun to deal with. I have my memories and don’t need physical items to look at. I actually take very few pictures on vacation.

[Gardenarian]

I only write letters to politicians. Supposedly they take paper more seriously than email.

[Simplemind]

I've always loved sending and receiving. I still have every letter ever sent to me. I took up painting again a few years back and now I enjoy making watercolor cards which I send to my clients. Wouldn't dream of ever sending a thank you via email.