Returned to Sender
Since I started cutting down on the internet and using the mail more, the first thing I do when I get home is check my mailbox — it’s become the highlight of my day. However, this evening, I was disappointed to find one of my handmade postcards hand been returned to me. Apparently, the recipient closed their P.O. box. It’s funny, I was going to send a letter today, but I forgot it at home.
Just so it doesn’t go to waste, I posted it here.
As I’ve said many times, if you’d like to exchange mail with me, send me your address and I’ll send you mine. I’d especially like to exchange mail with people in other countries.
Mail is Not Dead
A few postcards I’ve received over the past thirty years
One thing I miss in our digital culture is the lack of letters and postcards people exchange. You know, that stuff you get in your mailbox from someone you know that isn’t a bill, catalog, magazine, or advertisement. With the prevalence of email and the like, there isn’t any physical evidence that you communicated with anyone. In fifty years, when we’re all old or gone is grandma going to show the grandkids a box of emails grandpa sent to woo her? I hope not. Part of my new Operation Analog Communication is to bring mail back.
Snail mail, a-mail (analog mail, I just came up with that), or just mail — my preferred term because it’s so pure — is often regarded as slow and old-fashioned. I say that’s hogwash. Email, IMs, text messages and the like provide instant communication gratification, but I think everyone needs to slow down and wait.
I can’t remember the last time I sent or received a letter. I miss the surprise of finding a personal letter in my mailbox, tearing it open, reading those delicious handwritten words — It’s sad, I don’t know what a lot of my friends’ handwriting looks like. I have a few letters in a box somewhere that are fun to read whenever I come across them.
I’ve sent (a few are in the Junk Drawer) and received a lot of handmade postcards, but I rarely receive other postcards. Friends, family, professors, and even people I barely knew used to send me a postcard whenever they traveled somewhere. Carol (a.k.a my mom) and Janelle are the only ones that still do this.
During my precious free time at night, instead of emailing, I’ve been making postcards to send. Also, I’m going to visit the stationary store to purchase some lovely writing paper and envelopes for writing letters. If I don’t have your address, call me. In fifty years, I may be gone, but at least I will have left a paper trail.
NOTE: This is more along the lines of what I was trying to say in Saturday’s report on disconnections, which I think came out all wrong. I wrote this in my head while walking to work this morning. I do my best thinking at this time. I never remember it all by the time I get the office and am able to it write it down. I should get a tape recorder.