Call me old-fashioned, but I love snail mail. Being at camp with extremely limited phone access for the past five weeks has instilled a new appreciation in me. Sure, letters take exponentially longer to send and receive than a simple text message, but they are also so much better in a lot of ways.
We are conditioned to expect text messages on a daily basis, but we don't expect cards. Along with the element of surprise comes the ability to include little extras. You can't send a laptop sticker, pressed flowers or confetti in a text, but you can in a letter. You can't practice your watercolor or calligraphy skills over the phone, but you can on a notecard. Plus, it's an excuse to buy cute stationery.
Put yourself on the recipient side of things. Which would mean more to you: getting a phone call, or getting a hand-written letter? When you get a letter in the mail, that means someone was thinking of you days before so they took the time to put pen to paper. They had to look up your address and spend $0.47 on a stamp. Their hands held the same envelope that you're now holding. The best part is that you now have a tangible reminder of how much the sender cares about you. You get to tape that reminder up on your wall, or save it in a designated box.
The contents of a letter are almost always more meaningful than that of texts, e-mails and Facetime conversations, because writing someone a letter is time consuming and the message is typically well thought out.
From the Pony Express to overnight shipping, we've come a long way. I propose that we help keep the US Postal Service thriving and send more snail mail.
