A Real Letter

Letter I received yesterday

Yesterday I received a real letter. Yes, an actual handwritten (in cursive) letter. Not a typed letter and not a sales solicitation but a real letter from a real person.  

For those of us a certain age (old), remember when we used to communicate this way? Not that there is anything wrong with the way we communicate today, i.e. this blog posting, but it is sad that a cursive handwritten letter seems to have fallen by the wayside in today's digital world.  

I've always been a letter writer. I have save most of the letters I have received over the years. My father, who was always so dismissive of me in other area, actually made me a wooden box to save my letters when I was a teenager and had numerous pen pals. I still have that wooden box in my bedroom closet stuffed to the top with most of those pen pal letters.  Bill convinced me to throw out several hundred of those letters from pen pals when I moved in with him in 1965 but I did manage to save several packets from my favorite pen pals. I even save my Christmas cards.  I know, I know but I do enjoy going back and looking at them, especially the very old ones with notes.

The letter I received yesterday was from a friend of my longtime friend Don McK., whose co-op building Pat and I stay when we visit Philadelphia twice a year (spring and fall).  I had taken a photo of him with my new iPhone during our visit last year. I had the photo printed and framed and presented gave it to him for Christmas. Unfortunately he was in the hospital when we visited Don this past December so I left the framed photo with Don to give to David when he got out of the hospital.  He just found it and realized it was from me and not one of the old ladies from their co-op group. 

When I saw that envelope yesterday in my mail, which usually consists of bills and advertising circulars, I almost threw it away. Some junk mail comes in to me that looks like it was handwritten, from real estate agents and hearing aid salespeople, but aren't. I've been fooled too often by those fake hand written "letters."  I'm glad I didn't throw this one away.  

I don't know why I decided to get out my letter opener and read this one but I'm glad I did.

Thank you David for taking the time to write your letter to me, what a nice reminder of how life used to me. 

I wrote a letter back to him as you can see by the photo at the end of this post. The photo is of me, David and Don outside Don and David's co-op in center city Philadelphia. 

My wrist was a little sore from writing the letter, not like in the past when I was a long younger and could push out three or four page letters several times a day. 

Now I'm enthused about writing another letter to someone else.

My answer to David's letter