Snail Mail

Remember the good old days when people actually took the time to write a letter, lick a stamp and put it in a mailbox? Remember how good it felt to get a letter. You were excited to take it out of the envelope and read it. You kept it and read it over and over. I think that most people like getting mail, as long as it’s not that junk mail stuff or bills. When we wrote letters, we did stuff like dotting our “i”s with hearts and actually drew smiley faces. On the back of the envelop we would write S.W.A.K. For those of you too young to remember that, it means Sealed With A Kiss!

These days it’s all about fast and faster communication; OMG my BFF made me LOL. We email, text, tweet, update our status and post to our blogs. While I love technology and the convenience that comes with modern day communication, there is just something to be said for the tactile response and anticipation of opening that mailbox (the one that sits out by the street, not on your computer) and holding that letter, card or postcard in your hands. It never fails to bring a smile to my face. The front of my refrigerator always holds a hand written thank you (yes people do still send them!) or a postcard from a friend.

I recently discovered a website that will bring a little bit of that old feeling back. It’s called Postcrossing and the website is http://www.postcrossing.com. The premise is that you sign up (it’s free) and you receive an address where you will mail a postcard. The really fun part is that when you do this, your name is given to someone else on the site who will mail you a postcard from somewhere in the world! So I’m signed up and have sent my first postcard off to Hilary in Cheshire, UK!! Now the anticipation begins . . . where will that first postcard come from?? Hey, was that the sound of the mail truck?!

xoxo