Letter Writing

It's another of “those” days......really cold, with the wind chill at -13 this morning and still holding under 10 degrees even though it's the middle of a sunny afternoon. Tomorrow will be better. I almost lost track of how many layers of clothing I have on!!

I keep checking the driveway to see if the paper has come yet – so far no luck, but I'm hoping it comes while the sun is still up. The sunshine will help a bit with my dash to the driveway. And while I'm out, I'll check the mailbox too. No sense in multiple times of opening the front door.

I always loved watching for the mailman when I was a kid. Whether it was a Saturday, or summer break, there was always a bit of excitement seeing the mailman come by. And it was a disappointment when he just drove by without stopping. But most of the time he stopped, and then you could wonder what kind of surprises might be inside the mailbox.

Really, there weren't many surprises. Mom took the Capper's paper, and I think at that time it still came weekly – if not, it came at least every other week. Occasionally there would be a catalog in the mail. I could spend hours with the catalogs, going through them over and over again.

Mom has always been a letter writer and still continues that with her friends and family. When I was a kid, one grandmother lived in Independence, and the other set of grandparents lived in Jefferson City. And every Sunday night Mom would sit down at the kitchen table and write a letter for each household. I don't think either grandmother was as diligent writing back, but it was always fun when we got letters from them.

During my adolescent years, all the grandparents moved back to our home county. So Mom's weekly letter writing stopped, though she still had cousins and friends from high school that she kept up with regularly. Christmas card time would occasionally turn into a letter-writing marathon for her.

When I went to college, Mom went back to writing her weekly letters, this time to me. She would fill me in on what she and dad were doing on a daily basis. And one of the fun ways she filled up those letters and gave me more to read was giving me a daily recap of the soap operas we had watched together! A college friend of mine had watched the same soaps, so she would always hit me up to share the recap with her. Mom's weekly letters continued until I moved back home in late 1993.

And with her example to follow, I was a letter writer for a long time. As a teenager, I had two cousins that I kept in touch with by letter – one lived in southwestern Kansas and the other near Meadville. I enjoyed that connection. I tried to write fairly regularly to my folks during college. And once I was in other states, I made sure that I did write home every week. Sometimes when the kids were small it was a little difficult to find enough time. But I managed to write something.

Now my letter writing has morphed into the tech age – instead of writing letters, I zip off emails to family members. Hubby and I are fortunate that our parents keep up with technology......they have email accounts and both moms are on Facebook. With the two-hour time difference between hubby and his parents, it's almost easier to email than to try to make a phone call. I can email or Instant Message the kids when the need arises.

It was probably 11 years or so ago when I truly realized what a difference in communication was being made by the technology age – Son was in Germany for 2 ½ weeks on a special project with Missouri National Guard. One morning when I was at work, I sent him a quick email and got an immediate answer – it was almost his suppertime, and he was checking email before going to eat. We chatted back and forth for several minutes before he had to go. Even though I already knew it was possible, I was amazed.