Old fashioned letter writing

I read an article today about how two teenage girls decided to keep their long distance friendship by using old fashioned snail mail rather than texting. I think this is awesome.

I love a good letter from someone. A real one - not one where someone is trying to sell me something or just fill up my mailbox. Letters from living, breathing, non-automated people. I like cards (birthday, Christmas, etc.), but there's something about a letter that is a million times better. And email is no better than snail mail these days. I open my inbox and at least 95% of it is spam or something related to a bank account or an upcoming bill.

I had a few friends that I used to swap letters with during the summers while we were in college. I was usually doing some kind of research while they were being camp counselors or something. But it was always fun. It was exciting to come in on a random day and have a letter waiting for you to devour and then getting to sit down and fill more pages to send to them. It's so much more personal than sending a quick text saying "thought about you today." I mean, I'm glad you thought about me, but was that worth the text? (Disclaimer: I'm just as bad about this as anyone else... well, maybe not "just as bad" because I don't really text that much, but I'm definitely guilty of this type of exchange.) I've kept most, if not all, of the letters that I exchanged with friends over the years (not necessarily the cards, but definitely the letters). I want to be one of those old ladies that you see in the movies who can pull out stacks of cards tied together with a ribbon (note to self: buy ribbon). I said that I was going to be better about mailing people, but then I haven't done as well with it as I had hoped. This year looks like it's going to be mostly filled with thank you notes for wedding and engagement gifts. Maybe next year.