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Firstly, I'm so excited & grateful to be a guest blogger on Little Sooti's amazing blog! Thank you for having me!
The dying art of LETTER WRITING....
We live in this amazing world where technology is progressing at an incredible rate! Our ‘check-out-chicks’ have been replaced with self serve computer check outs, the ‘toll man’ who collects your money at the tollway on the main roads has been replaced with a wireless laser beeper thingy-ma-jig, we can get internet & email whilst out, about & on the road, I can pay my Australian based phone bill whilst riding a camel in Egypt if I wish, and who needs to take a colouring book, crayons, toys & a battery operated DVD player when heading out with the kids….the iPad has it ALL…plus more!
Some parts….{most parts} of this crazily growing boom in technology I support, use, encourage & immerse myself in. But, there is one particular concept that is a dying art form these days & I’m not happy about it…..LETTER WRITING! Do you remember that ‘old-school’ for of communication…..hand written, hand crafted, snail mail, ink to paper…..oh how I miss it!
It’s obvious that I love the idea of handcrafted mail {hence my handcrafted invitations business} however I also do love the ease & speed of an email, text message, Facebook status or tweet! It just saddens me that one has to replace the other! Can’t we have both? Can’t we live in a world where the original concepts & technologies are balanced with the new? I’m finding myself in a little ‘soul battle’ between old & new!
As a child, I can remember writing thank you notes after each Christmas on nicely scented, floral letter-sets, chaotically decorating my handwritten letter to my Pen-Pal with stickers & labels & love hearts, adding a YES or NO tick box to my little love notes in Primary School and leaving hidden ‘private, girls-only’ notes around the house for my Mum to find! But more importantly I can remember receiving handwritten letters from my Grandparents when they lived overseas, the handwritten love notes I would find in my lunch box from my Mum most weeks, the sticker covered pages in reply from my Pen-Pal, the handwritten journals {‘old-school’ blogs I guess} I wrote & kept so secret yet so organised! I remember waiting excitingly & patiently at the window for the ‘mail man’ to arrive on his scooter with hand-written, hand-delivered mail for ME! I can remember purchasing stamps at the post office with my grandparents, addressing the envelope & posting my goodies into the large red boxes! Such sweet yet simple memories that I still carry today! And memories I want to create for my children…whether it’s a dying art or not!
I think the importance of this became apparent to me during Christmas 2008, when my Grandfather gave my 2 brothers & I a folder each! Inside was YEARS or handwritten letters, cards, poems, memos, stories & pictures that we had sent our Grandparents as children! They had kept every single one of them…and now we have them back!! Decades of memories, traditions, emotions, experiences & milestones…all in one folder to cherish!
So…I encourage you all to re-live & bring back to life the simple art of letter writing! Grab some paper, a pen and your children and get creative! We’re only months away from Christmas so write to Santa {P.S. great resources for that at Australia Post}, teach your children how to set out a letter {without the ease of a pre-created template on the computer hehehe}, use a good ole’ dictionary to help with the spelling of words, decorate with drawings or photos or glitter or stickers, address the envelope, buy the stamp and get them to place it in the large red box! It truly is an educational, a fun and now ‘historical’ technology that I would love to see continued!
Claire Chadwick ~ Scissors Paper Rock Designs
{Images from here}
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Your guest blog brought back many memories. I used to have 9 pen pals, so you can imagine how many letters I would have to write and would receive. Ironically one of my old pen pals found me through Facebook, here we keep intouch.
ReplyDeleteI design writing paper sets, they do get purchased but my older folks. ;-)
My daughter 6 writes thank you letters after each birthday party and we also have a letter to Santa kit. I agree that it's important to keep these traditions, and she thinks it's great fun as well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely post Claire! I still have the letters my pen-pal wrote to me when we were kids growing up on opposite sides of the globe. 22 years later and now in our mid-thirties we are as close as ever. You've just inspired me to dig out that old box and stroll down memory lane....
ReplyDeleteLetter writing is such a valuable and, sadly, fading mode of communication. I think letter writing makes us be more sincere and thoughtful with our words since we can't just hit a delete button and go back. Check out this project that focuses on letter writing: www.thingsunsaidproject.wordpress.com. A co-worker told me about it last week. Neat stuff.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
Tina
Thank you so much for this opportunity Thetis! It is such a pleasure to be on your beautiful blog!
ReplyDeletexo
I became a pen pal with my friend's 9 year old daughter because I too don't want the art of letter writing to die out.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I still try to send the thank you notes because I know how much I love to get them.
That's really beautiful stuff Claire. I think a lot of people will relate to it. If you could see my handwriting you'd know why I don't write things anymore!
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