MAKE SOMEONE'S DAY

There's something about a hand-written letter that is so wonderful. My daughter got so excited a few days ago when she received a card from her soon-to-be third grade teacher. Her face lit up like Christmas morning. I, too, love receiving cards and letters in the mail. Compared to e-mail, a letter is much more special. You can touch it. Tearing open the envelope and wondering what's inside, holding the pages the sender held, reading the words written in one-of-a-kind style...a letter is so personal. Perhaps that's why letter writing has become almost obsolete.
In fact, I noticed that some people think it's strange to send hand-written letters.

My daughter's teacher could have sent a typed letter to her students. You know the type of letter with a blank after the salutation so you can fill in a different name each time. The same exact words are sent to all, and there's nothing personal about it. That would have been easier, but it wouldn't have gotten the same reaction from an eight-year-old girl. That's the magic of hand-written cards and letters. They are more appreciated. They have the power to make someone's day, as Delaina claimed that card from her teacher had made her day.

What inspired me to write about letter writing was a movie I just saw on the Hallmark channel titled, The Love Letter. The storyline was a bit unbelievable as it involved two people who were able to communicate although they lived in different centuries. As the man wrote on his laptop, the woman opened a bottle of ink and gracefully guided a quill pen across thick, textured paper.
Just the sight of her elegant hand movements as she wrote compared to his clunky clacking on the keyboard was reason enough to fall in love with letter writing. There's something romantic about a hand-written letter. And if you don't mean to be romantic, there's something endearing about it.

My grandmother, I call her Nana, has probably written more letters in her lifetime than I could ever imagine writing. It's like a hobby to her. I've been the recipient of many of her cards and letters, and I cherish all of them. What a great memento I'll have of her when she's gone. She'd often include a reference to scripture or some other encouragement, and she often mentioned things we take for granted, like the songbird outside her window or the fragrance of the lilacs she'd just placed in a vase. Nana notices the simple things in life that people no longer slow down to enjoy.

Maybe that's the greatest charm of all about letter-writing. Just knowing that someone took that extra time to shop for a card or the perfect stationery. Then they slowed down long enough to write a personal message to you, not with a keyboard, but with the touch of a hand, with their very own handwriting. There's something about that. It makes you feel special to be on the receiving end of such thoughtful effort.

And now it's getting late and I must be going, because I've inspired myself to write a few letters. And I can't forget to put cards and stationery on my list. I have to tell Nana about the cool nights we've been getting and the hoot owl I've been hearing in the woods. She probably misses the feel of late summer since she can't sit on her porch at night anymore. A letter from me would probably make her day.