Our Mail Bag blog posts feature letters and postcards that members send to us at LetterMo to share with the community. You can submit content to the Mail Bag by following the instructions at Mail-In Submissions.
This submission comes from LetterMo member, @fly46, who writes to us from Tennessee. Fly shares reflections at the end of last year’s LetterMo, the successes, the frustrations, and the best intentions; and reminds us of the reason we all take on this practice of writing actual letters to one another–to build connections with wonderful people, near and far. It is a fitting blog entry for any time of the year, and especially as we prepare to start another LetterMo!
Dear LetterMo Blog ~
(And Blog Readers!)Another LetterMo has technically come and gone but I am still writing letters. I bet I am not the only one with the best of intentions.
Back in January I found new stationary at a discount store and new-to-me stationary at a craft resell store. I found pretty pens and went searching for fun stamps. I made a list of all my friends showing as recently active.
Then I got fifteen hour works shifts and sick and life got in the way. I’m not good at finding balance, so I soldiered on and just never caught up. My goal was to send a letter to everyone on my list, beautifully crafted and visually stunning.
In case you can’t tell by this, that didn’t always happen. Most of my letter writing has been like this. A sad pen that won’t write smoothly and is running out of ink (please dear pen, just let me make it through this work shift!), the biggest notebook that fits in my pocket, and balancing on my lap while work has me in a weir, of the way place. At least it is a letter, right?
And that’s the thing, all the fancy stationary, pretty pens, washi tape, wax seals, etc… they’re fun! But they pale in comparison to what really matters in all of this, which is human connection.
I’ll never probably meet the people you tell me about or boop your dogs on the nose or smell the flowers you’ve planted. You won’t be at my house to eat my tomatoes or wish my cat a happy birthday. But we can live and learn and love through each other.
It’s almost magic that I can roll this pen in different directions and -WORDS- end up on my page. And I can drop it in a box and it will bounce from person to truck to plane and back again and end up anywhere in the world.
I have penpals three towns away and half way around the world. Separated by language and culture and oceans and yet, so similar. People, pets, places. Hobbies both shared and unique, and oh, so so beautiful.
So even though its March, I’ll keep writing and I hope you all do, too. Let LetterMo just be your yearly push to buy more stationary, make more friends, and have even more reasons to eagerly await the mailman.
Hope this letter (blog post) finds you well. I’ll catch you in my mailbox.
Happy Spring*
Fly*Unless you’re South, then happy autumn!
It was nice to read your letter! I have the problem of being a “cold caller”. Writing to someone I don’t know is difficult. I hate to “waste” a stamp if the relationship won’t go on. So, I try to look at it as brightening someone’s day. They might be happy that I chose them, even if there wasn’t a connection. Keep writing. Keep trying.
I love this, and yes, I’m sure we all have had life get in the way of our letter writing. I agree..the human connection is the best part. I love hearing about people and their life experiences (good or bad); their customs, favorite meals, favorite books and movies…we all can learn from each other, and in this crazy world we live in, more human connection (less of other things) is something we can all benefit from!
I cannot agree more: what really matters is human connection! I now recognise some of my penpals’ handwriting and let me tell you that I absolutely tear the envelope apart because I want to hear from them!! On the second read though, I must confess that I really enjoy looking at the aesthetics, the stationery and the handwriting 🙂 <3
I am a newbie and have yet to write my first letter. I love the connection part and that of receiving mail. I get it that life gets in the way. I also write to Compassion Canada sponsored children as a correspondent so it happens so often that a few months go by and I think, it’s time to write. In this case, I write on the computer because this goes through the channels so much faster. I did do15 years of writing physical notes/letters and I loved it. I loved to send stickers, some artsy valentine I created or other lettermail/paper items. Some of these children went to the program until the age of 22 and received a college/university education thanks to the encouragement received and the fact they had a sponsor. I love to encourage people and LetterMo will be no different. I am really looking forward to it.
This is lovely, Fly. Life does indeed happen. Motivation to write isn’t always there as other priorities take space in reality. I’ve been very lucky to have patient pen pals, as I trickle through my reply stack. I’m down to 3! Looking forward to another LetterMo.
Absolutely heart-warming! YES. it IS about human connection. Thank you for sharing this. Write on!