The Charm of the Handwritten Letter
Even self-confessed freaks for Facebook must admit that there is no charm to be found in a keystroked message electronically delivered to their computer, even if it's from your dream babe whose profile photo is a winsome gaze into the sunset and he ends it with at least one X. Fill your special keepsake box with printouts and it could easily be mistaken for the recycling.
Yet as long as paper and pen are available, those of us who lament the slow death of the handwritten, hand delivered message can still indulge in the romantic tradition of letter-writing. (If us keyboard jockeys can still write - does anyone else find your fingers are like rubber when you go to sign a form? I actually have to practice to keep my once prided penmanship!)
One kindred spirit is the lovely Jem of Beautiful Clutter, a English blog of beautiful things and like this girl, is all about the details. It's a real treat to look at and read, full of loveliness and most likely you'll learn something, too. One day Jem was having a conversation with a reader in the comments about the diminishing tradition of postcard sending, so I piped in and asked if she wanted to revive it. Soon I received this really beautiful postcard, just before Christmas, and it was just the sweetest thing - mission perfectly accomplished!
The printed writing on the back is in several languages so I'm not sure where it's from, but it's a special card with its soft, dusty shades and delicate gold detailing the image.
Jem wisely didn't want to risk the postcard being damaged so she put it into an envelope. That frees up space to write as well! As you can see Jem is not suffering from rubber fingers, she writes beautifully. I can't say what I sent her as it's on its way but it's something from where I live. Hopefully we'll continue the tradition. How about you?
Such an honour to be mentioned on The Swelle Life.
Here's to a 2011 full of beautiful postcards in the mail. Beats the hell out of envelopes with windows!
Posted by: Jem | January 09, 2011 at 05:33 PM
My friends and I always wrote each other hand written letters in college. Manda, my buddy in Virgina taught me how to make my own envelopes from pretty magazine cut outs. I saved them all in a book. I should start writing them all letters again, even if they live down the street.
Lets all find pen pals!
Posted by: Lauren | January 12, 2011 at 02:03 AM
If you ever decide to start a pen pal "movement" - count me in! I love the idea, and I collect all sorts of cards and paper ephemera - people could really create some beautiful mail and who doesn't enjoy something pretty waiting for them after a long, hard day?
Posted by: Amber | January 14, 2011 at 11:38 PM
Jem - thank you so much, I love this! I agree - let's keep it going! xxx
Lauren & Amber - let's make it bigger! You two should write each other. I'm going to do a post on this soon when my redesign is done, launch a little project. Other bloggers have done this, there are many who would love to get back to communicating Old School - let's do it!
Denise ♥
Posted by: Denise @ Swelle | January 15, 2011 at 11:46 PM