I’m a little late to the party, seeing as how one week of April is already gone.  Just yesterday, though, I learned about National Card and Letter Writing Month.  I’m surprised I haven’t heard of it before, since it’s actually been around for 18 years!

What it is

In 2001 the United States Postal Service officially made what was formerly a one-week event into a month-long celebration of snail mail that takes place every year in April.  Their site states that this is “an excellent opportunity to raise awareness of the importance and historical significance of card and letter writing.”

I know there are people who poo poo made-up occasions such as this.  I for one, though, happen to think it’s a wonderful opportunity to embrace!  I mean, come on…most weeks we open ye old mailbox 6 times a week.  While walking back inside the house, we flip through the stack.  Then we give a long tired sigh as we slice open and toss the various items of junk mail received.  But what a welcome surprise on those rare occasions when we place one envelope onto the counter apart from the others, because this one looks like something to pay special attention to and savor.  An actual old-fashioned hand-written letter from a friend or relative!

 

Why it’s important

I’ve had this happy-face bag since the early 70’s.

 

This is just a small sampling of the postcards and letters that have been stored inside the bag.  I haven’t looked through it in I don’t know how many years.  After taking it down from the shelf to snap these pictures, I am itching to go through it and rediscover the treasures within!  That’s what letters are, you know…treasures.  Snippets of the past.  History.

And today I believe letters have increased in value.  And I’m not talking about these letters pictured that are from the past.  I mean letters today.  In this age of texts and emails.  I do occasionally print out an email that I want to save.  But it’s not the same rereading that email as it is to handle an envelope, slip out the contents, recognize the handwriting…all the warm fuzzies.  And to get a letter now sends another message besides just the one in the envelope.  It sends the message that you are important.  You matter to someone.  You are worth them taking the time to gather supplies, think and write and maybe draw, make the trek to the post office.  It’s a message that screams L-O-V-E!  And love is important.

 

The practice of letter-writing

My sweet mom was THE best letter writer I’ve ever known.  She never missed a birthday or an anniversary.  She always remembered to send a postcard anytime she traveled.  Often I would tell myself, “I need to write Mom back.”  More often than not, before I got around to it, here came another letter from her.  Then the guilt sunk in.  My mom even wrote and sent letters to my friends.  Whose mom does that?  Many times after she developed dementia, she would tell me she needed to write to different people, and she needed to get stamps, and where was the post office, did I know?  She so badly wanted to carry on her habit of corresponding, but the wherewithal to do it was no longer there.  She couldn’t even dictate what she wanted to say for me to write down for her.  But I digress.

When I try to remember the last letter I wrote, it’s not too difficult.  I wrote a letter to each of my granddaughters.  However, my original intention was to write to them at least once a month.  I think I only wrote that one time.  And that was quite a few months ago.  Oh, I’ve sent them things and cards in the mail, but I haven’t included another letter.  And I know I should.

I even have a Pinterest board to help inspire my fairly non-existent letter writing.  You can look at it here if you want.

 

How to participate

This year as part of National Card and Letter Writing Month, the USPS is teaming up with Scholastic and Hallmark in a program called Show Someone You Care.  This program is aimed at third- and fourth-grade students and their families, but you could also use the resources with other ages.  You could even use them yourself.

At Scholastic’s Show Someone You Care site (find it here) they have 3 downloadable stationery templates for making notecards.  You print out the template, cut it out, and color it before writing your letter.

Hallmark has a Think.Make.Share. blog (here) with resources like letter-writing ideas, advice on how to build a letter-writing habit, and writing etiquette tips.  I especially like the calendars they have with a letter-writing idea for each day.  They have one for children and one for adults.

I saw a site from a few years ago where a challenge was issued to write at least one letter a day for the entire month of April.  That’s a little much for me.  Plus a week has already gone by.  (Lucky for me!)  But I do think I could handle writing one letter per week.  And since we’re already one week in, that means it would only be 3 letters.  I can do that.  This little project will also help me tick off one of the boxes on my Spring Bucket List!  I’d like to think of 3 people who would least expect a letter from me.  That way the impact will hopefully be even stronger.  It shouldn’t be too hard to come up with that list since I rarely write letters to ANYONE.  Who knows…after this month of writing one letter a week, maybe I’ll be a little more prolific with my letter writing.

 

So how ’bout it?  How often do you send letters?  Can you remember the last person you wrote to?  Would you like to participate in National Card and Letter Writing Month?  Do you save letters that you receive?  I’d love to hear any thoughts you might have!

 

 

 

This post linked to Busy Monday and the GRAND Social