To Whom It May Concern

Email. Text. Instant message.

These items have become part of our daily lives. Seems as if we cannot recall a time when we didn’t text someone to ask them a simple question, or drop an email in someone’s inbox. These simple tasks have replaced one very important thing.

Written word.

Remember those days when we were young when we used to actually put pen to paper and WRITE a letter to someone? Remember those days when you would run to the mailbox because you knew that your friend that lived far away had penned you a letter? Remember the anticipation as you peered down and saw an envelope with your handwritten name on it?

Oh, please. Sure you do.

I have decided in recent weeks to revive this lost art. I’m not sure what pushed me over the correspondence edge, but I am happy I did it. Feels good to write longhand again. Feels good to connect with people close to me in a more intimate and personal way. It just plain feels good.

And if it feels this good to write a letter, imagine how good it must feel to receive one.

Don’t think you have anything to write about? Bullshit.

Take the miscellaneous bullet points you would compose in an email, back away from the computer, get out a good, quality pen, some paper and……

start writing.

I wrote a two-page letter last week to my boyfriend’s family. It was an unseasonably warm autumn day in San Francisco, and rather than draft a boring email, I wanted to capture the spirit and the essence of the day on paper for them. Let’s face it: the description of the sun shining, people-watching, and the day in general is much better communicated via the written word than reading the typeface in an email.

So, don’t think about it too hard. You need four things: paper, a pen, an envelope, and a stamp. You already know you have a recipient in mind. We all do. The letter doesn’t have to be a colorful soliloquy about some momentous occasion. Your letter can be as simple as, “I miss you, I was thinking of you, and I wanted to say hello.”

Instant love.

Instant appreciation.

Instant gratification.

In the form of a lost art.

Sincerely,

Lisa