Letter Writing Week: Reflection

Letter writing week 2011 has come to a close & here are my reflections on it. As I mentioned, Griffin & I relished in letters during the first few years of our relationship. Being in a long distance relationship, letters were tangible evidence of the abstract love we had for each other. We learned to love the adventure of dropping off parcels in the mail and unlocking our mailboxes in search of the next treasure. Sometimes we would include random tidbits in each letter. I remember putting some confetti in a letter to him from the AFC Championship game 2007 where the Colts beat the Patriots. He would include the heart from his favorite cereal: Grape Nut Flakes. It was endearing & I hope one day our future children will find them interesting when we show them how we managed to love each other from a far distance away.

Letter writing, like any relationship, takes time. In order to get something out of it, you have to put time into it, and that means making time. I learned that this week. After three & a half years of a long distance relationship, writing letters every week has been transformed into daily 10-15 minute conversations and occasional video chatting. I really had to plan for these lettters, make time to write them each day. It was time for Griffin & time for myself. Overall, this was a good reminder that 10-15 minutes each day isn't going to cut it. Letters are, in some ways, more intimate than phone conversations. You get to see pen on paper from someone who spent time carving out each letter individually; it's much more concrete than an email.

So, that being said, I will revert back to my snail-mail fetish and be a letter-writer once more. For me, it's easy to get lazy, but I'm really going to try. Those who will be receiving long overdue letters from me will be my college roommate, my four-year daily Mass friend from Creighton, and my grandma.

Long live letters!

Letter Writing Week: A Challenge to You.

Today (January 8, 2011) begins National Letter Writing Week. If you’re anything like me, you love snail mail. My boyfriend and I thrived off of letters while courting each other. As the years have accumulated our letter writing has decreased, so we vowed to reinitiate this wonderful form of communication at least for this week. We will write each other one letter a day for one week.

You should try this too. Maybe you don’t want to write seven letters to one person, but rather seven letters to seven different people. Need ideas? Have any friends you’d like to reconnect with in a more personal way? Try writing them a letter. Got any grandparents? They love letters! Parents, significant others, someone across the world, your neighbor, your postal worker, etc.

I hope that after a week of putting ink to paper, you come to appreciate the delicate art of letter writing. After this week is over, I’ll let you know how it went. Why not let me know how it went for you too. If you’re reading this and it’s not January 8-14, try it anyway. Any day is a good day to write a letter. It’s an easy commitment, just seven days.

My favorite letter writing style is stream of consciousness. Just go with the flow, literally. Enjoy!