You've Got Mail!

I grew up in a time when the written word, delivered through the US Postal Service, was the way we communicated. There were the occasional phone calls, but they were saved for life changing news (deaths, births) and the once in awhile, a very special birthday gift.

I remember from the time I was very young, being so excited when the mail arrived. I would usually be the one to collect the mail in the summer, anxiously going through the letters and bills hoping there would be something for me. Growing up in New York, I had friends and relatives in Georgia and Wisconsin, many with whom I had a “pen pal’ relationship. I was the primary letter writer, often writing 2-3 letters for each one I received, but what joy when I had a letter in response…when I saw that envelope addressed to: Miss Diana Dokken (for those of you who don’t know, I took back my maiden name!) Of course, I would immediately sit down and right a response that went out the next day, and my waiting would begin again.

On vacations, and still to this day, I love selecting postcards and sending to friends and family…(when I have been in Europe, the first thing I have purchased is stamps!)

I found love letters written from my grandfather to my grandmother in 1902-1903…postage was 3 cents! My father had 4 books bound with letters his father and other members of his family had written in the 40s – 60s. (unfortunately my father and grandfather did not have the most legible penmanship, so some are hard to decipher) but the books are a tribute to the written word and the importance of letters - experiences and feelings expressed. I have a few letters that my mother and father wrote to each other when they were young marrieds and my father was traveling for work.

Postage has gone up again, and while I have turned to e-mail as a primary point of communication with friends and family, I still write letters. As someone said, “You can’t re-read a phone call”…and just how long do you keep a special e-mail?

I try not to let too many weeks go by before I send a card to my granddaughters. They are too little for e-mail communication…and they can’t very well carry a picture of a e-mail around with them…but a card with a picture of a kitty, bunny, giraffe on the front …that comes in the mail, with their name on the envelope…I hope is special to them! Remembering them as I create the card, write their names on the envelopes…that is very special to me. Something tangible from their “dd”.

Thank you notes, written with thought and put in the mail…the updated "on my life and family letters" that are written other than Christmas…the cards to let people know that I think of them often…These I love writing and sending…and love receiving.

Another wise person said, “Write the truest sentence you know”.

I still look forward to the mail each day…hoping that there will be a letter, note, card…something personal from a beloved family member or friend. I guess I will never out-grow that anticipation…and I hope, even with electronic communication, the "art of letter writing, note and card sending" through the US Postal Service will not become extinct. When I approach my mail box, I do not hear it say “You’ve Got Mail”, but finding a treasure among the catalogues, junk mail, bills…What Joy!