“1. In the month of February, mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.
2. Write back to everyone who writes to you. This can count as one of your mailed items.
3. All you are committing to is to mail 23 items. Why 23? There are four Sundays and one US holiday. In fact, you might send more than 23 items. You might develop a correspondence that extends beyond the month.
Write love letters, thank you’s, or simply notes to say that you miss an old friend. Let yourself step away from the urgency of modern life and write for an audience of one. You might enjoy going to the mail box again.”
I read about this, then changed my mind. “Why would I want to do this?
I treasure these letters and keepsakes. Reread them tenderly, often with tears. More than words are intimately communicated with handwriting. Scribbled lines of paper that say, “I am thinking of you. You mean something to me. I care.”
Writer Virginia Woolf called letter writing “the humane art, which owes its origins in the love of friends.”
Do you have treasured handwritten keepsakes?
I have been amazed at the reaction to this challenge. I have had wonderful comments and quite a few emails. been fun an uplifting in the middle of dreary winter. so glad you send out cards. Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Love! Love! Love this challenge. In my mind there is nothing better than a hand-written letter. I love everything about it. It’s such a treasure, especially today. I try to send one out each week–mostly to my grandmother and godmother, but also to friends from all over. And while I don’t get as many back, I think it’s good for my heart to send them, so people know I’ve taken the time and effort to think of them. Everything about the process is beautiful, and it’s good for me too.
Visiting from SITS (a little late). But I’ll be back!
Caroline you are so right. I know I have a box in the basement with notes from high school. mmm, would be fun to go get them this weekend and reread them. Great idea!
Hi Tracie. I started my letter writing this week and even got one in the mail from a friend. Such a treasure – a handwritten note!
I still have a box of notes from high school, plus love letter from a boyfriend.Most importantly are the little letters and notes from my daughter.
This is a really lovely idea. Letters are a precious gift – and they arrive so seldom now.
How cool you have those letters, Kendall. I figure even if I don’t write all 23 letters at least the ones I write will be sent. I have had some great response to this idea and really shows me how we hunger for contact from others. Community is so important! Have a blessed week, Kendall!
wow how cool to read those letters. Such priceless keepsakes and just reinforcing the importance of handwritten letters. Thanks Mary
i still have all the letters my husband wrote me when he was away at college and i was still in high school…i love them. perhaps i can get on this writing train….
Recently a cousin brought me letters I wrote to my Grandmother as a child of 9-11- I am now 63- and loved reading the letters. We also have all the letters my Dad wrote during WW2 to his mother- family treasures for sure. Love this idea- one friend still uses snail mail and it is lovely to receive a hand-written letter, for sure.
Steno pads? I still use them in my news paper reporting. What a neat item to have Johnnie. love it.
Thanks for the tweet. I told Karen one envelope I have shows a soldier with his bare butt in the air waiting a shot from a nurse. Hysterical.
Jeanie, my mom and I both loved looking at your dad’s envelopes. Such a special and unique keepsake. My favorite handwritten item is my mom’s valedictorian’s speech written with pencil on a page torn from a steno pad. (Remember those?)
Those letters are very dear to me, Karen. Did you notice the address too? My mom spent part of the time he was overseas with my aunt Katie ( yes who I named my Katie after) and my grandparents in Clearwater. Brings back great memories!
oooo I look forward to watching my mail and have all of the KHW on my list. but don’t tell the others though they may guess. I think writing your sons AND the DIL ( present and future ones) is a great idea. love ya Laura!
I thought it was a good idea and you can tell from my post, then changed my mind, then back again. I figure even if I don’t send out all of them I will still have succeeded. AND the emails I have received today in response to this idea have been wonderful. I am very excited. See those recipes cards become very near and dear. And what do we do now? print them from the computer – those need to be handwritten too. Thanks for your comment.
Jeanie, those letters from your Dad are wonderful! And the painted envelopes…ahhhhh. My treasured letters are one from my grandfather to grandma during the war, my son’s boot camp letters, and a letter my Dad wrote to me on my wedding day. There are more, but this just shows how “right” this post is. I love it!
I’m in! I LOVE this — I’ve just been thinking lately about how I should write to my sons, each one, at least once a month. Just love this idea, and Jeanie — check your mailbox next month…!
What a great idea! Thank you for the inspiration to share handwritten encouragement every day in February. I, too, treasure handwritten items of family members who are now in heaven. Just recently our grown daughter asked if we had any recipes of Grandma R’s–in her handwriting. Perhaps the value lies in the uniqueness. No two people write the exact same way. Holding a handwritten note or recipe connects our hearts to that unique and special person.
Those envelopes are very very special to me. Even a few corny ones with a patient’s bare butt up in the air getting an injection. I wonder if the post office would even mail that today. HA! Yes you WOULD appreciate the Philippines connection! My list is growing and so is my excitement about this project!
This is swoon-worthy. Truly. I love, love, love, the decorated envelopes, and I am just smitten thinking about your dad having served in the Philippines 🙂 I have several hand-written letters from my dad tucked away in books and folders and in my Bible. Now that he is gone, I treasure something that touched his hand–words that flowed from his heart to his head and out onto paper. Hmmm…you’ve got me thinking. Definitely sharing this–a great idea!