Rediscovering the Joy of Mail

Written communication is essential to our modern life. Each day, words fill cyberspace in the forms of email and brief text messages. This communication is thrilling because of its efficiency; a string of emails can contain a lengthy conversation occurring in a very narrow time frame. What all of these electronic messages are missing is the anticipation and humanity of a hand written letter.

I vividly recall the excitement of receiving a letter in the mail. Scanning the envelope began to unlock mysteries as I examined the penmanship, stamp, and postmark. Upon opening the envelope, I was certain the message contained on the hand written pages were intended solely for me as they were carefully crafted by a writer whose attention was directed entirely on me. This precious gem was much more than merely a piece of mail; it was a personal letter that I would repeatedly return to in the days ahead.

These days, most envelopes I receive by postal mail are either bills or junk. Neither is terribly exciting. To remedy the absence of personal letters, I joined an organization known as International Pen Friends (IPF). That's right...an adult man is writing to pen pals. IPF is a subscription service. For $30, I received the names and addresses of 15 pen pals. These members were selected because of their age range, geographic location, and some shared interests with me. Additionally, in the coming year, my contact information will be shared with 10 to 15 additional members.

What do I expect from my IPF membership? I'm not entirely sure. It's fascinating to share stories with a person on the other side of the world and compare their life with my own. By putting pen to paper again, the process suddenly feels more relaxed than composing another email while sitting at the computer. In a best case scenario, I will make a few new friends that I probably would have never met without first taking the chance to write a personal letter.