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Going postal

March 25, 2014 by Dave Knadler

Nothing like longhand.

Nothing like longhand.

When’s the last time you wrote a letter? I feel comfortable asking that because for me, it was only about an hour ago. (Never mind that it had probably been more than a year since I’d last done it.) I wrote to thank Mom for putting me up during my recent visit to Montana, and to apprise her of the latest news from sunny Florida. The reason I used the mail is because Mom is one of those people for whom the Internet does not seem to work. Her computer and printer are forever prone to mysterious malfunctions. She hasn’t had much luck with e-mail. And of course she’ll never be on Facebook.

Anyway, it was supposed to be a quick note, but I kept thinking of things to add and I ended up with a couple of pages, single-spaced. I figured, if I’m going to take the trouble to address an envelope and put a stamp on it and mail it, I might as well make it worth the effort. Also, I like to think it will make Mom smile to find something other than bills in her mailbox.

Writing a letter isn’t like journalism, where you put the hammer at the top. It isn’t like short fiction, where you put the hammer at the bottom. You mostly forget about hammers. For me, writing a personal letter is more a stream-of-consciousness exercise, where the all the pieces of recent days fall out like dice from a Yahtzee cup. I like to make mine semi-literate, of course, but I’ve found that a letter I try to structure often becomes a letter I never finish. I mostly dispense with witty segues. I just keep adding paragraphs until I get to the one that starts with “Well, …”

The letter I sent today won’t end up in the Smithsonian, but it’s hard copy and you don’t see much of that these days. Who knows? It could last for a good long while. Someday, maybe, an ancestor will come across it in a mouldering box and know that on a day in March 2014, I bought a lemon tree and put it in a pot on the porch. There will be a record of mild weather in Montana (in March!), and a granddaughter named Ruby starting to walk, and a surprisingly smooth trip across the country via Delta Airlines. There will be a bunch of other little details that would no doubt have drowned in the data tsunami of the Internet.

We should probably write more letters. We won’t, of course, not when it’s so easy to connect via “likes” and memes and four-word phrases. Is one way of reaching out better than another? I don’t know. I do know that by sitting down this morning and pounding out an old-school letter, I was forced to think for a little while about where I was, and what I’d been doing, and why certain details seemed more important than others. Not quite an examined life, but better than nothing. Maybe I’ll do it more often.

More along these lines:

  • grant biography ron chernow historyIt could be worse.
    Just ask Grant
  • Dorian J. Trump
  • michael landon in bonanza episode the strangerThe Cartwrights
    stand their ground
  • It certainly is SeptemberIt certainly is September
  • Sooner or later, it’ll be time to moveSooner or later, it’ll be time to move

Filed Under: american life, Me, Writing

Comments

  1. Sheila says

    March 25, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    Thank you so much for putting into (perfect) words what I struggle to explain to my friends who see no point in reverting to the old-fashioned way of communication…I copied it down, and will send copies to the people I write to this month. (And yes, they do tell me a letter in the mail is SO much better than a bill!)

    • Dave Knadler says

      March 25, 2014 at 3:13 pm

      Thank you, Sheila! Like hand-written letters, I like hand-written comments quite a bit.

  2. Deb says

    March 26, 2014 at 6:19 am

    There’s nothing nicer than getting a hand written missive….especially from my kids. Good post!

    • Dave Knadler says

      March 26, 2014 at 1:04 pm

      If they’re writing to you and not demanding money, I’d say you’ve raised them well.

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