“To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.” (Phyllis Theroux) How long has it been since you’ve sent or received a “real” letter? The USPS is in financial difficulty, partly because letter writing has gone out of style. I’ll always treasure the letter my grandmother sent to me at the start of my ministry. As the week begins, how about sending a letter to someone who’s been important in your life? You won’t regret it. ;-) Jack
FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL: Jack, we are in the process of cleaning out my 97 year old aunt's home as she is now in a nursing home. we recently found a whole suit case full of letters (some censored by the Army, quite common in those days) written by my uncle, now deceased, when he was in the Pacific during WW II. he was gone 3 1/2 years. some of them are just fascinating as Ellis was a great writer and story teller. I am even wondering if they could comprise a book of some sort. Letters from Okinawa. the book would be somewhat different than Clint Eastwood's, Letters from Iwo Jima.====JACK: "Where you heart is, there is your treasure also." Who would have thought that a suitcase could be a treasure chest? Like the servants in the parable...some put it to good use. One of them just buried it.
FROM BLAZING OAKS: In cleaning out drawers, etc for my big move, we unearthed old letters of my grandma (whom I never knew, as she died before my mom married) and grandpa to my mother when she was a young woman at DeKalb Teacher's College. They sure gave insight into everyday living in the early 1900's! I also have letters that we twins wrote to my Grandpa that he'd kept all his life in a bureau drawer. A peek into the past! I send cards and notes to our house-bound, and nursing home parishioners regularly, and our H.S. gang has had a Round Robin letter which has circulated for 60+ yrs. Started with 21 of us, now down to 8!! (Those who live the longest, suffer the losses!!) Yes, letters are a good way to keep in touch, and also a commentary of our times! ====JACK: I wonder what those who come after us will think when they go through what we have saved in the computer? I wonder what invention will have replaced the computer by that time? ====BO: When i read of Duke's research and experiments on thought transference over thousands of miles, years ago, I wondered if that would become common practice, but not yet! I imagine what will come in the future will astound us, or would if we were cognizent of it!!n 1950, I remember going to a featured exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry when we were first married, iand saw robots doing house work and shiny new household inventions, most of which are commom place today! What a world!!
FROM WATERFORD JAN: My list of birthdays I like to observe has grown so large that I decided to reduce the cost of purchasing cards. I combined my hobby of writing with various card stock and matching envelopes and began to send personal notes with matching smiley face and star stickers. I also enclose a fairly-new dollar bill which negates the savings from not buying the "very best" greeting cards. The response from people who receive the note and the dollar bill has offset any cost. Some people ask me what they should do with the dollar (not all my friends are that slow-minded); some say they'll buy a lottery ticket and share any proceeds with me (that hasn't happened); some say they donated it to a food pantry or some other good deed fund; some hang on to it trying to decide how to use it wisely; some recall days when they were a child and shook their birthday cards in hopes of finding money. The birthday people think they're lucky, but I'm the winner because of the joy I receive!====JACK: Homemade birthday cards with a dollar enclosed is a great idea. My mother used to enclose a $2 bill with our cards and mark the date on the bill. I have an envelope full of them. Maybe someday I'll spend them...but chances are, the spending will be done by my heirs.
FROM JE IN MICHIGAN: I send cards with notes, does that count? I love sending and receiving letters, but I’ve fallen into the email and electronic messaging routine.====JACK: For me...A real, live card in the mail (with a handwritten note) beats Facebook greetings anytime.
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ: i have been working on a sympathy letter for a college roommate who lost her mom... complete w/monogrammed stationery!====JACK: Henry Van Dyke wrote: "It's not the gift, but the thought that counts." I'm sure that your roommate will appreciate hearing from you.
FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY: Uncle mike sends us letters and we write back. The grandkids love to get post cards. I sent them a different animal from the Everglades. Our 5 year old granddaughter was not happy that we sent a postcard of a cougar to our Ethan, our baby grandson. She said it scared him!====JACK: I had an Uncle Herbert who would always send me a homemade birthday greeting. Only, he would begin it with...HAPPY NATAL DAY. As a kid, I had to ask, "What's a Natal Day?"
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