I have a few boxes full of old letters. Most are handwritten, a few are typed (on a typewriter!), and a few were done on a word processor (like an hybrid between a typewriter and a computer). Almost all of them are from the 1980s. I'm not really sure what to do with them long term. I've put some of the letters my hubby and I wrote to each other in a binder. Most just sit in a box. I love to look at the envelopes and see the postage rates (25 cents delivered a letter back then!) I love all the different types of stationery and cards. I've always been helpless in a stationery store! I especially love the handwriting. As soon as I see the handwriting on each letter, I immediately think of the person who wrote it. There are some things a computer just can't duplicate!
Of course a computer might have helped with my brother's hand writing. He was only 8 when he wrote this letter and it's a little hard to read. How sweet is it though that he wrote me a letter? It's a treasure. The pink letter is from a high school friend who always had very nice penmanship. She was a straight A student and now teaches math to kids in junior high school.
Here's a letter from my Mom. She has perfect handwriting (a trait that was not passed on to any of her children). She mailed this to me while I was away at school in Logan, Utah. I think everyone should go away to school just so their Mom will mail them handwritten letters.
The pink letter addressed to "Sweet Pea" is from my college roommate. She is one of the sweetest people I know so I feel pretty honored that she called me "Sweet Pea' as a silly nickname when we roomed together. The blue letter is from me to my family while I was on a study abroad program in Europe. I held my pencil incorrectly for years and my handwriting had an almost left handed slant to it.
I lived alone during my junior year in college so I decided to take some time to work on my handwriting without worrying about anyone thinking I had lost my mind. Every time I did my homework, I taped the pencil in the correct position to my hand. It took months before I had retrained myself to hold it correctly. My penmanship didn't improve a lot, but at least it doesn't slant the wrong way now.
Oh, the memories that come rushing back from just looking at a pile of letters! Of course, reading them again brought back so many thoughts and feelings - not to mention ideas for scrapbook pages!
Do you have written treasures filed away somewhere? Have you pulled them out to read them lately? Do you ever hand write letters these days? I never do, but I'm thinking that I should take some time to write a few and file them away for my children to enjoy someday.
