death of the pen pals

Growing up I had a fixation with correspondence. I LOVED writing letters-almost as much as I loved getting my own mail. I wrote letters to my Grandma Fox in St. George as well as my childhood friend Kristi when she and her family moved back to California after third grade. I dreamed of my mother letting me join one of those pen-pal clubs and having a pen pal from someplace exotic-like Ohio.

I had a massive collection of stationary-fancy, casual, cartoony, hand-made, you name it; I probably had it. Half the fun for me was choosing what paper I was going to write my letter on and what stickers or drawings I was going to use on the envelope. If you stop and think about it the whole process of letter writing is just so personal.

Looking back I'm realizing just how much letter writing helped to form who I am now. In Junior High I had a Young Women’s leader I simply adored. When she and her family moved to Arizona we kept in touch for a bit. She helped me through a few struggles teenage girls are prone to. My good friend Laura and I used it to keep in touch after Junior High although we were in the same stake and lived maybe two miles apart. We wrote each other a few times a week all through our Sophomore and into our Junior years and kept each other informed of the goings on at our respective High Schools. Nothing made my day the way opening my mailbox after school and seeing a letter addressed to “Twisten” from “Wa-wa” (long, yet funny story why we gave each other those names.) Sadly, the end of High School became busy with new friends and new interests-choir and drama for me; Journalism, yearbook, and band for her-and we let the habit die. After High School I kept up with a few missionaries and friends in the military; but again I allowed life to get in the way and stopped writing.

I came across Laura's blog today, and I got to thinking about old times and missing writing letters. In an age of texts, Facebook, blogs, and email, who REALLY writes letters anymore? As convenient as modern technology is, it has allowed us to become so impersonal. I miss the days of opening my mailbox and being greeted with real mail, not junk and bills. I also wish that I had ignored all the anti-clutter talk of the new millenium and kept those old letters. Writing my blog has helped but it's just not the same.

Maybe I need to pick up letter writing again.

What is something that you used to do but don’t anymore because of lack of time, technology, or just letting the habit die?