Why I Care About Letters

I am a lover of letters, love letters, letters from friends, cards and letters to and from my kids.  I own an astonishing number of handwritten letters, bundled in bags and boxes, dating back to the ‘60s.  Sure, I’ve thrown away (burned!) a few letters in my life, but precious few.  Precious is a good word to express my feelings for these scraps of paper, each with its distinctive handwriting, envelopes bejeweled with exotic stamps, and stories to tell.  They help me remember those I’ve loved and lost, and allow me to connect with those who may be far away.  Letter writing is a dying art, and I have been remiss.  Yet I love finding a personal letter in the mailbox, and I know I’m not alone. 

I’ve been sifting through my letters, so many saved, from various eras of my life.  I still have 98 letters from Terry Miller, my first boyfriend, and those are just the ones I kept!  He always signed his letters Terry Q, simply because he liked the sound of it.  I treasure the ones from my high school friend Amy Bodian, the most creative and alive person I’ve ever known, who died at 38 of lung cancer, having never smoked.  From my grade school friends I have envelopes addressed to “G.I. Miss Laurie Watson,” a teenage affectation that we obviously thought was cool.  The letter I keep closest to my heart is from my late husband, Emmett Chase, silenced by brain cancer at 62, written during a time of deep contemplation as he was dying in 2009.  A letter is solace, there to read and reread. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about letters, that I haven’t been writing enough of them.  I desperately want my mother to know how much I love and admire her, as she fights against cancer, Parkinson’s and two worn-out knees, simultaneously.  I want to advise and encourage my two children, and hope that they treasure my words as much as I cherish the postcards and letters I’ve kept from my parents and grandparents.  I want to keep connected with the friends who live elsewhere, creating with words a picture of our lives.

In this blog, I want to share a few of the precious and wise words I have been gifted with, as well as some I have written to others.  I hope to inspire my readers to take up their pens, find some paper, and begin writing letters of their own.