A Handwritten Note

Some time ago, the Grand Rapids Press had an article asking if the art of handwritten letters was lost in this time of facebook, email etc. At the time, my friend An and I were writing to each other, long hand, once a week. She and I both entered to try to win the book they were giving as a grand prize, but, we didn't win. I did, however, get mentioned. I came across the letter I wrote and thought I'd share it with you......

Feb. 6th 2008

Dear J-,

Hello!

It was wonderful to read your recent article "Write On". The title immediately caught my attention. A dear friend of mine and I write letters to each other as often as we can - we try for once a week -. With seven boys between the two of us (ages 8 to infant) it is much easier (and way more fun!) to write than to try to call. What fun to get a letter from her! We decorate the envelopes with stickers to make them as girly as possible - we need to express our inner girl being surrounded by boys as we are! We just fill each other in on the day to day "going-ons". and for two happily married stay at home moms, we have a lot to write about!

For instance, last week I was attempting to get some chocolate chip cookies baked before my two oldest got off the school bus. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a big flash of white and turn in time to see out my kitchen window my two geese flapping their wings and squawking loudly down the driveway. Josie, my darling dog, was right behind them. This is not a scene that promises to be good. I quickly checked on my youngest two, who were watching a movie, called Josie back into the house, and took off running the driveway. I seen a car slow to a crawl and heard a squawk and knew my geese were definitely in the road. Thankfully (maybe? I know I seen them laughing!) there were two commercial trucks sitting on the side of the road, slowing traffic. And there, in the middle of the road, were Mr. Goose and Miss Goosey, looking completely flustered. I was sure they'd eaten enough over these three years to not fly but they, in fact, skimmed over the road surprisingly well. Imagine the scene...two large geese being chased down the middle of the road by a woman in a bright yellow apron. This is just not something one sees every afternoon! But those geese flew right into the side yard and once they had gotten over the shock of it all, waddled - rather loudly - back the to the safety of the coop.

And although I was WAY winded after that, the cookies were still done on time and when my hubby called to say "anything new with you today?" what could i say? "Oh, same ol', same ol'," I replied, "you know, typical chase the geese day." It concerns me slightly that this even seemed normal to my husband of ten years.

This is the live we love, these are the stories we live, and we laugh through it all - even when we are so tired we have tears as we are laughing. Our letters keep us laughing and it makes our friendship a special treasure.

So, thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you are bombarded with hand written notes.

Happy Reading to you!

Denise

I miss those hand written letter days. I hope your day is going great today, An!

So what do YOU think? Is the art of hand written letters a thing of the past?