Before moving to Sparta, I wrote a goodbye letter to my favorite teacher and gave it to her on the last day of school. Her name was Mrs. Nolan. She didn’t have kids of her own, but she definitely treated my class and I like her own (not in a creepy way). She would constantly make our class laugh, sometimes play with us during recess, and she loved telling her own personal stories to purposely waste some class time. I wrote about the good memories and thanked her many times in my goodbye letter just so she knew how much I would miss having her as a teacher. At the time I was only in second grade, so you can imagine how many grammar and spelling mistakes I made in that letter, but it was the thought that counted. In the end, she understood my main points anyway and she wrote back to me a week later with an equally heart-warming letter. She told me that we should stay pen-pals, and I agreed. Unfortunately, I don’t contact her anymore because once school started up again I just completely forgot about the whole pen-pal idea. Although, I will never forget that in one of her letters she told me how sincere my writing was and jokingly she told me that I should work for Hallmark one day.
A physical copy of someone’s heartfelt words are by far one of the sweetest things you can receive. Personality can be sensed through the neatness, or lack thereof, in their handwriting. The spelling can emphasize their intelligence or age. Unlike texting, where there’s autocorrect. And the length of it can show the dedication of the sender. Depending on the contents of the note, it almost matches the feeling you get during a hug. You feel seen. Appreciated. Loved.
This even goes for birthday, mother’s/father’s, veteran’s, etc day cards; It’s soooo much more meaningful when you write your own message on a piece of paper. I mean anyone can go out and buy a card from the store and sign “From, *insert name.” But anyone can also write their own card. The difference is that the handwritten card is personal and it shows thought and effort. Furthermore, I, like some people, have kept all the birthday cards and letters from my friends and family that have their own message on it. And from time to time I do reread them appreciating the time and effort that they had put into it.
I also feel like people don’t realize how meaningful letters are these days. We live in such a fast-paced generation, to the point where we just ask Siri for directions or the definition of something. I wouldn’t say that we are lazy for being this way, we are just using our resources trying to survive in this constantly-demanding society. So when you do get a letter, knowing someone took time out of their day just to write it to you, please understand how much you mean to them. Imagine going through your mailbox and seeing that there’s actually a letter for you that’s not from a college trying to get you to visit, or spam mail from local businesses (I mean yes we should support the local businesses, but that’s not the point here), or your average newspaper. But instead there’s a letter with your name and address handwritten on it, from either a friend or a relative. Their kind words, written down on a physical note just for you. I bet you wouldn’t be able to tell me the last time you got a handwritten letter like that, can you, because I sadly can’t.
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