Few things give me as much joy as opening my PO box on campus to find a handwritten letter from a friend. While these letters are rare, they make my day when I receive them. My love for snail mail stems back to my days at camp, where mail was my only connection to the outside world and the friends I had back home.
Getting letters from my friends meant I got to dive into their world for a few minutes. I got to hear about what was going on in their lives and know about what was going on back home. I didn't have Snapchat or Instagram to fill me in on the social happenings and my friends couldn't text me when they had news to share. Getting a letter meant that they took the time to sit down and write all these things out for me. I loved getting letters because it meant that I was not forgotten back home and that my friends cared enough to take the time to write me.
One of my friends wrote me lots of letters. Some included Sudoku puzzles or a tic-tac-toe game that we could pass back and forth. Some were full of information about celebrity gossip that I would have otherwise missed out on. I even got postcards from her summer travels. But my favorites were the ones where she told me what was going on in her life. I got uninterrupted insight into what she was doing, thinking, and feeling.
I took the time to write my friends back with the news of the goings-on of camp and how much I missed them. It was a therapeutic way for me to share information of my life. It was direct, unlike a Facebook status, and intentional, unlike a casual text.
Now, in college, I have a similar feeling to that I felt at camp. My friends are living their day-to-day lives, and for the time being, I'm not a part of it. I don't know what is going on with them until I see a post online or we FaceTime to catch up. However, one friend and I keep up via snail mail.
A letter from her is a guaranteed day-maker. I love reading about what is going on with her life: her major, her relationship with Christ or the boy she's crushing on. Whatever the news is, big or little, I feel like I'm right there with her. I know how she's feeling more than I would if she just sent me a quick text. I love getting to share that information back with her. I can tell her about the date party I went to or that I'm feeling particularly homesick. I've also found that writing her a letter is a good way to puzzle through something I'm worried about.
All this to say, handwritten letters are a way to say, "Hey, I care about you, and I want you to be a part of my life." The feeling of pulling out an envelope from a mailbox or P.O. box to see who wrote it with anticipation as you rip it open are such simple joys. From two or three pages to a quick note, any letter makes the day better.
Now, go write some! You won't get mail unless you send a letter to someone first. If you don't know who to write to, snail mail is always appreciated in my PO box.
