Checking the mail can be a bit depressing.
Sometimes there isn’t anything in there. Nope, nothing at all. Just one big, empty mailbox telling the world that everybody forgot about you today.
Then again, the alternative is typically a fistful of bills and flyers. Someone’s selling air conditioners, your car payment’s due, and the pizza place down the street has a new crust. All nice to know, of course. Just kind of boring … kind of bland … kind of blah.
But that’s what makes it so great when something with actual handwriting on it turns up in the mail. Those little endangered parcels have something very special about them. For instance:
- Feel that ink. If you’re lucky enough to score a full-on letter, you know how good it feels to hold that pen-scratched masterpiece. Both sides of the paper are all carved up, and it sort of crisps and crinkles in your hand. It’s got a certain texture to it that feels very real and honest — like the person who wrote it put a bit of themselves in that envelope and sent it over. If I was a tree, I like to think I’d be proud if my slaughtered, pulpy remains were used for a letter like that. Seriously, it would bring a tear to my leaf.
- It smells. Sure, sometimes it may not smell too strong, but then there’s the occasional letter that has a whiff of hand cream or perfume on it. And really, anything’s better than the smell of mass-ironed printer ink, especially if the ink’s real cheap and powdery and flakes off in the paper folds. Then you get it on your pants and under your fingernails, and for what? So American Express could tell you about their new interest rate?
- The Complete Package. When you get a handwritten letter in the mail, it’s got a whole different look and feel to it. It’s a complete package. It’s a wedding thank-you card in the small red envelope, with the perfectly placed stamp, and the translucent tissue paper. Or it’s the letter from your kid at camp, with the smeared pencil and mud stains on it. It’s licked shut real tight, there’s a spelling mistake in your address, and the letter is folded thick, causing the envelope to puff out at the seams.
- There’s nothing like it. Because no two handwritten letters are really the same. You know whoever wrote it spent a lot more time scratching it out than you did reading it. And they wrote it just for you, in their personal handwriting, with their pen and paper, and they paid to mail it to you. I don’t care how small and cold your heart may be — you have to admit that’s pretty cool.
Of course, the biggest reason why getting something handwritten is great is because it’s just so darned rare. I mean, for most people, you’re more likely to see Halley’s Comet crash into Big Foot while he’s riding the Loch Ness Monster than to actually get a full-blown note from a friend.
So I say treasure those handwritten notes, when you get ’em, if you get ’em. And if you don’t, there’s a pretty easy way to start receiving them.
Man, just send a couple.
AWESOME!
“I mean, for most people, you’re more likely to see Halley’s Comet crash into Big Foot while he’s riding the Loch Ness Monster than to actually get a full-blown note from a friend.”
Best. Sentence. EVER.
This makes me miss my Granny. She used to write me letters when I was a kid. I never ever appreciated them. I wish I would have saved them.
And this is one of the many reasons why I started penpalling and trading post cards with complete strangers through postcrossing.com. I wanted to feel a little “old-fashioned”, it felt good to receive something different in the mail.
I need to send more letters. It really is the best type of mail.
I’m a letter writer myself, so there isn’t anything much more gratifying than knowing someone took the time to do this. Who doesn’t love getting a letter in the mail?
Agreed: everyone loves getting a letter in the mail! I like to write them, too!
If you like mail, this is pure awesomesauce. http://www.etsy.com/shop/janiceartship It’s a subscription service where people pay to get a letter mailed to them from Paris.
I always send hand written thank you. Even if I send a thank you email, I also will follow up with a hand written card
This is so true.
I do love handwritten mail! That’s why I do postcrossing. It’s a way to guarantee you get handwritten postcards!
I was inspired to write a letter to my friend after reading this yesterday! I’m still writing it haha, but it’s going to be awesome! I got a hand-written letter from Wendy when I sent my choir CD and I still have it blutacked to my wall :D I always stick on my wall any letter written to me by friends- they’re just that personal and cute and special!
I haven’t sent a letter out since….high school I think. I do still send some people birthday cards and thank you cards and stuff like that through the mail. When its handwritten, you know its not a bill!!
wonderful post. thank you. (where was that photo taken? excellent P.O. boxes!)
I don’t know for sure where this photo was taken and they are beautiful boxes. I’m guessing they are in a really old college dormitory but I could be totally wrong.
thanks janet. The USPS has been replacing the nice old brass PO boxes with ugly, cheap-looking aluminum ones, and when I asked why, a clerk explained that the old boxes had little glass windows in the doors which interfered with “mail privacy.” Right. Like customers were complaining……Now if you have a newfangled PO box with a solid door, you don’t even know it’s empty until you unlock it and open it….Here’s to lots of first-class mail in your mailbox, whatever kind you have. http://carriedawaytruestories.blogspot.com
Love The Book of Awesome!!! #895 is so true! The P.O should have a hallmark type commercial that tells about how wonderful it feels to get actual letters in the mail. Focusing sending them to people who live alone, nursing home residents, college students and especially our men and women in the armed services.