The Love of Letters

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash

I needed a book to listen to on my way home from Idaho today and I found The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which I had never heard of, but which my sister said she had enjoyed.  It is, at least so far, completely made up of letters written back and forth between various people.  As I listened, I started to miss letters!  I was always a letter writer.  I might still have letters from my childhood friend Dawnae, and my high school friend Joan, among others.  I wrote to friends from all of the places we lived, to grandparents, and to missionaries.  Derek and I even wrote each other letters right before we got married.  I loved writing mail, but I loved getting mail even more!

After a while email mostly took the place of writing on paper, but that was fun too.  I think my first regular correspondent via email was my cousin David, and I still feel honored that he chose to communicate with me.  I emailed relatives and friends alike and loved hearing from people in return.

Now letters in the mail, or even via email, are a lot fewer and farther between.  People communicate through social media sites and texts.  Very occasionally phone calls are made, or in person visits actually happen.  As I listened to the book on the way home I missed getting to know people through letters, or keeping up with them that way!

For years I did really well at keeping track of a lot of people through Christmas letters once a year.  I have failed at that the last few years, though I have enjoyed every one I've received!  I'm starting to think I should find a pen pal to write letters to, just for the sake of getting to know someone through the written word!  

People used to fall in love through letters and I think we are missing something because communication is so different now.  We can keep track of a lot of people without really knowing much about what is really going on in their lives.  In some ways the new methods of communication are awesome and instantaneous, but I also think they are often more shallow and less personal.  Not everyone liked or likes writing letters, but I have a love of letters and I miss them!