The Art of Letter Writing

For years, my grandmother and her sister, Marge, have written weekly letters to each other. Although they live but about 100 miles apart and speak on the phone often, they have continued a tradition of putting pen (and sometimes typewriter) to paper and sharing the news of the week. As a child, I remember Grandma sharing the letters with us, maybe in hopes of sharing a tradition of family and connectedness. The joy that Grandma received from the letters from her sister was always evident.

In this time of emails, facebook messages, tweets, and text messages, I still like to write letters and cards. I like the idea of handwriting, of the gift of the written word, and of the tradition of communication. I like to express gratitude with a thank you card. I like to hand write a recipe to share with a friend. I like to spread joy through the intention of personal communication. I doubt that anyone's scrapbook 100 years from now will include an email, but hopefully one of my handmade bits of correspondence will make it through as a tactile expression of tradition and gratitude.

Today, I am making cards to send. I have gathered paper, stickers, ribbon, buttons, photos, and other bits of ephemera to create small works of art to share. There are birthdays to serenade, there is gratitude to express, there is a moment to remember... I can only hope that the cards will bring a smile and hopefully make my Grandmother pleased that her tradition lives on.

I encourage you today to take a moment to write a note to someone you love and let that person know how they make life beautiful for you....

And now, it's time to create!