Why Don’t We Start Writing Letters Again?

We’ve all heard it before. We just don’t communicate very well now that communication is so much easier. How about a proposal to use the best of the past and the best of the present to get back to this time-honored practice?

1. Get envelopes and stamps and have them on hand. Interesting stamps and commemoratives add fun and interest.
2. Type, edit a little, and print. This part is fast.
3. Hand address the envelope. We might begin to remember addresses again!
4. Move the stamped letter toward the place where it will be posted, then post it as soon as possible. In a fraction of the time it used to take, we can make the first move.

Although we have long been in the habit of thinking we do nothing of interest to anyone else, here are some ideas for what to write about.

1. Weather. It was the old standby from the days when everyone had a farm background. It mattered. Nowadays it affects us much less than it used to, but it still affects us. Writing a bit about it gives perspective. If someone lives 1000 miles away, their weather is different at least because of timing. If we live in Cincinnati and we have a line of severe storms come through, that system is likely moving to the east and northeast. We could do worse than to learn to look at weather maps and forecasts. Have the daffodils started blooming yet? Is that frost going to kill your house plants sitting on the porch? Have you been sitting on the porch? I hear the cicadas might be bad this year. When do you expect the leaves to reach peak color?

2. Nearby events. Did the farmers market open this week? Is it the week of the annual maple syrup cookoff? What about the apple festival? We’ve been promised the sweet corn will be in soon. They already have corn from Florida in the grocery stores. When will apple trees bloom this year? There’s an orchard near here we visited.

3. Daily events. Jason starts his new job on Monday. My crazy neighbor mowed his grass yesterday, even though it’s only March, so that means that everybody else will have to get their mowers out now. What will we put in the flower beds next to the house? We noticed last night that a skunk came into the area. The wind from that direction told us he didn’t get any closer than the creek. We saw the first grosbeak/flicker/bluebird/oriole today. The snowbirds are still thick on the feeder and so are the finches.

4. Food. We decided Saturday morning that we were just going to break out the baking gear and have biscuits/cake/pie/cookies/salmon/casserole/scallops. Gramps made a dagwood sandwich on Saturday and ate the whole thing. It had ham, cheese, pickle, turkey, tomato, bacon, and mustard, along with onion slices. We’re trying to stay upwind for now. I say we use the rest of that ham to make some split pea soup! My brother started baking bread. People ate it and survived! Now they want more!

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5. Memories. Memories from long ago. Maybe keep these brief until interest has been established. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!

• Memories of those you’re writing to make for good letters. Remember what little Ipecac did on his second birthday?
• Somebody starting school soon? What happened on your first day of school? When was it? 1959? 1985?
• You never met your Uncle Harry, but I remember hearing him tell the story about the goat and the water trough.

6. Activities. Went fishing/split firewood/replaced light bulbs in the car/replaced light bulbs in the house/got the flower boxes ready for pansies and early flowers/washed the car/went to a concert/took a nap this weekend. Still trying to recover from last weekend.

7. Work. Work is normal. Work is good. We can help others understand what we do if we give the outlines of a day. Lots of sniffles in a doctor’s office? Depression at the counselor’s office? What lumber went into flooring this week? Are stores busy because of warm weather? Are stores busy because a storm is coming? I saw an old truck from WWII on a trailer yesterday. It looked like a restoration project.

8. Faith and values. I don’t think I could have gotten through my bout of ____ without firm support from ______ and _______. We went to the church supper on Saturday and really enjoyed it. I ate too much pie but did it on purpose, and I intend to do the same thing at the next church supper. The Jones girls sang a quartet at church Sunday. My favorite hymn was on the list. It’s God of Our Fathers. Do you know it? Here’s a link to copy.

9. Acts of kindness. What did you see that made you happy this week? Did a customer take in carts at the hometown supermarket? Did you see a total stranger offer an arm to someone recently out of surgery? Were there kids in the hardware store looking at tools and bicycles instead of looking at phones? Did you see the elderly couple walking hand in hand like I did? Did you see the male cardinal feeding a female cardinal on the bird feeder? Did you make a cup of tea for your loved one this week?

Two or three paragraphs to cover a page is plenty to start with. Keep it friendly and ask questions. With luck it could be the start of a fine new tradition that will inspire writing, evoke sympathy and understanding, and teach a bit about family history. We could do worse.

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