I'm going to sit right down and write myself a letter....

I was talking to my good friend Becky the other day on the phone and she told me that she was going through some old boxes and found a box of letters. She found many letters from friends, including several from me while we were apart at college, and while I served a mission. She told me how fun it was to go through the box and just reminisce. I am sure that if you are at least my age you have somewhere in your possession a box of letters.... don't you? So my question is, what happened to the letter? I know it has been taken over by e-mail and messaging, but I have to say that in my opinion something has been lost. I remember back when I was about 14 or 15 I had a bunch of friends in Snowflake, thanks to my cousin Wendy that lived there and introduced me to people. Of course nobody had cell phones (I still remember when my friend JoLynn's dad bought one and it was "the talk of the neighborhood"... and as big as a brick!) I remember a few times asking my mom and dad to let me call some of my long distance friends on the phone, and sometimes I would pay for it myself... but most of the time we wrote letters. I remember receiving several letters a week from friends, written in their own handwriting, and filled with pictures and sometimes other things. I even got a roll of 100 stamps that year for Christmas.... I am not kidding... and I was excited.

Less than 9 years ago when Geoff and I were dating and engaged, we sent each other letters. We both had a computer, and e-mailed each other too, and of course we talked on the phone everyday, but the letter was just so exciting and unexpected! I loved knowing that something that was in Geoff's hands, that he actually wrote, was now in my hands. Besides, you can't spray perfume on an e-mail or seal it with a kiss!

Don't get me wrong... "I love technology" just as much as the next guy... well, maybe almost as much, but how can something that has been around for thousands of years all of a sudden become obsolete? I say, "Long Live the Letter!"