"You've got mail". 3 little words that have all but eliminated the United States Postal Service from the letter mailing industry. When I bought my first computer back in 2000 and installed the AOL internet software, I was sure the internet was the best thing since sliced bread. Hearing those 3 words packed a punch of excitement so big it made my heart leap and my pulse race.
With baited breath I'd wait as I listened to the sound of the modem connecting to the provider. My day would instantly be brighter if I had mail which caused my computer to speak those 3 little words. The convenience of email has been a god-send to families and friends who are separated by distance. Companies across the globe are now able to conduct business transactions in the blink of an eye. The convenience of email has undeniable advantages.
However, as I was going through letters my grandfather had written to my grandmother while researching my family's genealogy, it dawned on me that I would not be leaving this kind of tangible legacy for my own children and grandchildren. Sure, I could print off email correspondence between my husband and I when we were separated due to a job transfer, but printer ink does have a limited life span and it just doesn't give the same feeling a handcrafted letter does.
There is something so intensely personal about someone putting their thoughts and experiences down on paper in their own handwriting. The recipient of that letter knows the sender has touched it with their own hands and the scent of their perfume or cologne may even still linger on the paper. While the convenience of email has facilitated the speed by which we go about our fast-paced lifestyles, it has also caused us to forget to sit back, relax, and breathe.
When I was a child, one of the neatest surprises was to get a letter or card in the mail from my grandparents. Oh the shouting and hoopla that would transpire with my brothers and I over whoever received that letter! We would carefully open the envelope making sure not to tear the flap too much so the letter could be folded and stored back in the envelope to keep it safe. The letter would gently be unfolded and read aloud as everyone sat around the recipient. I still have those letters my grandparents sent me some 30+ years later and I still go back and read them from time to time.
I decided after having this revelation to go and purchase a set of stationary and send out some letters. I went to 6 different retailers who carry stationary supplies and not a single one carried a set of ordinary stationary any longer. Oh yes, they carried folded note cards and lots of designs for print your own invitations, but not a single, solitary set of stationary.
It was as I stood there in that 6th store trying to think of where I could get a set of stationary that I remembered. Most of the letters we received were on sheets of plain lined, and sometimes unlined, note paper. Even the letters my grandfather sent to my grandmother while fighting in World War II were on plain paper.
The letters did not require fancy stationary with initials embossed in gold, or paper with pretty flowers decorating the corners. No, all we needed for a letter to be special were the thoughtfully chosen handwritten words put down on paper and the love that it was sent with.
by: Christie Bielss
Police officers and security experts tell you it's dangerous to meet people online and it is something you should avoid at all costs. Even though you hear horror stories of people being robbed and murdered from someone they met online, you still see and hear commercials on the tv and radio espousing the benefits of it. There have even been songs written about it, comedy skits acted out, movie scripts created, and real life drama that's unfolded on the evening news.
Being a typical redhead, I ignored those warnings and spent part of the weekend with a friend I'd made online. But this case was different (isn't that what the person always says in a movie before their online "friend" either robs them blind or kills them with an axe?). Yes, you heard me right, it was different. This wasn't from an online dating site, or some I'm a loser and need a friend site. No, this was a much different orchestration and can only be described as us having been put together by God.
I know it sounds crazy but sometimes that's how God orchestrates our lives. You see, I had known this person for a few years from a photography website I am a member of. Photographers can be a very close-knit society and when one of our members suffered an unthinkable tragedy a couple of years ago, without even so much as a backward glance, we all came together and formed a bond which has become unbreakable.
Since that time, our group has met several times around the United States but unfortunately I've been unable to attend each gathering for one reason or another. When the opportunity presented itself to meet one of the members of our group while she and her family were travelling on vacation this summer, well, being the crazy impetuous redhead I can sometimes be, I jumped at the chance and invited them to stay at our house.
My husband was sure I'd lost my mind, but he went along with it. The morning my friend was to arrive, my husband said "you realize this is something police tell you never to do, right? We could end up on the news looking like a couple of idiots". I laughed, but I was a bit nervous as well.
My friend and her family arrived and she told me about the first time our photography group got together and she had to explain the excursion plans to her family. She has a great sense of humor and explained it to them as: one of the males in our group would pick her up in a white unmarked van at the airport. He'd then take her to the hotel where he'd made her room accommodation to drop off her luggage. They would then head several hours out to the desert for a photoshoot. Ummm........ yeah. Maybe I'm wrong, but it sure sounded like the makings of a Stephen King novel.
After that description, I think our visit sounded quite tame. It was, after all, just bbq, relaxing, and church. We had a great time and introduced them to some good old-fashioned Texas staples like fried okra (she'd never even heard of okra, much less fried okra) and corn dogs. I could not believe her children had never had the cornbreaded, deep fried mystery meat yumminess on a stick we call a corn dog.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend and we look forward to spending time with them, and the rest of the photography group, in the near future. And thankfully, none of us made the evening news' headline story and no Amber Alert was issued for our disappearance. Was this crazy? In today's world, yes it was, but it was a crazy wonderful blessing as well, but not something I recommend anyone else doing.
by: Christie Bielss
