The Lake House

Call me crazy, but with the holidays over and the New Year under way, I got to thinking about how we communicate with each other.  I heard an interesting debate on the local AM station the other day about Canada Post raising its rates (again) and whether or not people really give a crap.  I mean, who sends letters and cards anymore anyway?  I’ll tell you who – old people.  Now, that is not meant as a slant or to be disrespectful in any way, but it is true.  Our elders come from a time where if you wanted to get in touch with someone, you wrote a letter or made a phone call (on a rotary phone with no call waiting or Caller ID).  It was a time when communication was done in person (What?  Actually go out in public, you say?) and cell phones and texting did not exist.  In a technical world, I am as big a geek as anyone and a definite supporter of the “online” way of doing things – cards, letters, social media – but I find myself longing for a time when I would get something other than a bill or junk in my mailbox.  A nice, old-fashioned piece of mail where someone actually took the time to use a pen and paper, put a stamp on it, and drop it in a mailbox.  Be honest.  How excited do you get (if even a little) when you go to the mailbox and find a card or letter from someone special in your life?  I know I do.

I am no saint in this area, believe me.  Sure, email is faster, more cost-efficient and easier when you are loaded with a laptop and Blackberry, but a personal hand-written note is like nothing else.  So, here is my commitment for the month of January in the dawn of a New Year and decade…I am going to write AT LEAST five letters or cards this month.  Yep, you heard me – five!

Ambitious?  Maybe.

Doable?  Definitely.

I was smart enough to buy Permanent Stamps from Canada Post which I recommend everyone do (to avoid the pain-in-the-butt price hikes), and plan to use some of them this month.  I challenge all my friends and family to do the same.  Pour a glass of wine, make a cup of tea or whatever, sit your ass down with some paper and a pen, and write.  It doesn’t have to be War and Peace, but give it a go.  You may find the break from the computer a welcome indulgence.  So, I challenge all those who read this post to pick five people to send “snail mail” to this month.  Post your comments to let me know how you made out.

I can tell you how many cards I got in the mail for my birthday this year – TWO!  And do you know who they were from?  My aunties.  That’s right – old people.

I rest my case.

P.S.
As of the completion of this post, I have one down.  Four to go…