Tuesday, June 5, 2012

small slices of life

"Other letters simply relate the small events that punctuate the passage of time: roses picked at dusk, the laziness of a rainy Sunday, a child crying himself to sleep.  Capturing the moment, these small slices of life, these small gusts of happiness, move me more deeply than all the rest.  A couple of lines or eight pages, a Middle Eastern stamp or a suburban postmark . . . I hoard all these letters like treasure.  One day I hope to fasten them end to end in a half-mile streamer, to float in the wind like a banner raised to the glory of friendship.  It will keep the vultures at bay."

― Jean-Dominique Bauby, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly


I wrote a real old fashioned letter the other day.  You know the kind I'm talking about, on paper, with an envelope, and postage stamp.  It actually felt funny, and strangely nostalgic. Even though I rarely send them, I am dreading the day they are totally obsolete.  I wouldn't consider myself a hoarder, just a romantic.  There are several boxes of correspondence, letters with lovely postal marks, stamps, familiar handwriting sharing small slices of life, that I can't bear to part with.  They are little preserved banners, saluting the glory of love and friendship, the simple things in life. 

image: Mr. Hulings' Rack, 1888, detail, by William Michael Harnett

21 comments:

  1. No one captures the essense of what brings us joy and inspiration in life quite like you Tess....this is glorious! Beleive it or not I write some letters every year. It is an old habit that I vow never to quit. :-)

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  2. i love handwritten notes and still write them I to will be upset the day they become obsolete

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  3. I very rarely send those now as my penmanship is horrid, no less. Still, I send cards every now adn then and my mtoher always sends me old fashioned style letters from across the pond about once a month. Her writing is lovely but also hard to read. At least it looks beautiful though. You're making me want to go get a fountain pen and some wonderful toothy linen paper to write some eloquent letter to somebody unknown then leave it in a drawer somewhere or on a table adn see what happens. Maybe include some PO box return address? Wouldn't that be intriguing?! :)

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  4. Very intriguing MMm...do it...there's nothing better than an elegant mystery...

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  5. I remember pen pals, letters to friends on summer vacation,and postcards. How I loved getting postcards,

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  6. I love letter writing, and do so often. I also have boxes filled with ancient letters, complete with their original stamped envelopes. Yes, I'm a hoarder!

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  7. I used to spend days writing a letter, with illustrations and maybe snips of fabric that I had been using. Letters were an event! I don't think my hand has the patience required anymore...so lazy and spoiled with - this thing- terrible excuse,really...

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  8. I have kept correspondence I received from my grandparents. Those letters are priceless.

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  9. I know the feeling. It happened to me the other day, too! A rare event, but a welcome one - and as you say, nostalgic. Thanks for bringing us back to it.

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  10. You can't tie emails up in a bundle, to keep somewhere safe, to read on sad or reflective days, many years hence. Letters are a time travel that emails can never achieve.

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  11. I still write letters with a fountain pen and take delight in receiving them. We communicate by form as well as content. Is there an elegant curve to the "L", a flamboyant sweep to thr "F", an economy of form in the presentation?

    Microsoft is unhelpful here.

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  12. I think it’s been about four years since I last wrote a real letter and fifteen years since the one before that discounting job applications. I still have old letters from my mum, dad and sister and a few others in a shoebox on top of a wardrobe. My dad’s are the saddest because he was virtually blind when he wrote them. He wrote the way he spoke, so for ‘as’ he wrote ‘has’ and vice versa. I always enjoyed writing letters; presentation was everything. And that’s the one thing I regret most about e-mails because even when you do go to a bit of effort who’s to say how it will look on its arrival because some people’s mail readers strip out all the HTML and images and character frankly.

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  13. I have saved most of the cards I have received over the years, even though I rarely send them these days. I also have a cache of old letters that my hubby's Dad sent to his Mom when he was oversees in the Pacific during WWII. Talk about nostalgic!!!

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  14. Hey Tess, if you really feel this way, perhaps you would like PostCrossing! Basically, it's a website that hosts a free random penpal service. Random, because you don't exchange mail with specific people... you send out cards to folks you draw randomly on the site, and you receive cards from folks who've randomly drawn your address. Postcards! I've so far received postcards from Russia, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Belarus, Poland, Canada, and some others I've forgotten. It's really cool, the postcards themselves are so lovely/funny/amazing, and the folks who write are so nice!

    The cool thing is that there is no pressure to send a certain number of postcards - you just log in and request an address whenever you feel like sending one. I've sent about 12 so far.

    www.postcrossing.com

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  15. Marcheline, what a fun idea! For me, though, my saving of the cards and letters has more to do with the personal connection with friends and loved ones.

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  16. This is extremely well written. I was intrigued by this post.

    www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

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  17. When I get the mail, I love when I spot a hand written envelope. They are always a special treasure, hidden amongst the rest of the impersonal mail.

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  18. I hate that we've become a species of texters. I still love to imagine the soldier scribbling in his foxhole while at home she scribbles back from beneath the dim oil light. It matters not if months it takes, it is after all, the journey that matters.
    rick

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  19. Writing letters will not become obsolete as long as people still do it. Do it!

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  20. Hurrah for old fashioned letters ... I'm endeavouring to keep the art alive and well especially with my 'i generation' of nieces and nephews! Pleased to report feedback is quite positive to date ...a work in progress!

    Like the others I treasure the letters from grandparents and my lovely father... very special. What keepsakes for the 'i generation'?

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  21. You are a true romantic . . . .

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)