The Intimacy of a Letter

 Do you know why they call the good ol' days the "Good ol' Days" - well I will tell you- it's because they wrote letters. They may have worn tights and lots of lace around their necks and the women may have been wearing corsets that made them pass out, but  NONE of this matters; they used letters as their main correspondence which is exponentially cooler than anything else.

It is hard to treasure things written via technology nowadays. I for one would not be keen on holding my computer close to my heart because my loved on posted on my "wall." No, I would look completely insane and it would be quite cumbersome. However, a letter- now that I can hold close to my heart all I want and it would be perfectly fine. Sure letters take time to send and receive especially to loved ones far away, but seriously they are so much better! Take the new fabulous invention of Skype. Sure, it's great! I love being able to see my friends faces who lives thousands of miles away from me. However, in order to do so I must also make myself presentable prior to skyping so that I don't look like a complete and utter slob. This is not an issue with letters. Back in the day men would send letters to their ladies from war. For all they knew their ladies could be sitting at home corset-less drinking a glass of ale reading that letter, but it wouldn't matter. HOW WOULD THEY KNOW? They wouldn't, which is awesome.

Using skype also requires me to remain engaged for the entire conversation because, well , they can see you and if you were doing something else that would just be rude. A letter however, allots you the opportunity to put it down, re-read certain lines, come back to it with a cup of tea in hand- you name it. You are given time to think about what is actually being said. I hate how technology requires an instant reply- Exhibit A:
Bob sends an e-mail to Jim at 11:50 am, Jim decides to go to lunch and respond to the e-mail afterwards. The following conversation takes place:
Bob: Hey, Jim you know I sent you that e-mail about 15 minutes ago.
Jim: Oh hey Bob, I was going to respond to it after I ate lunch.
Bob: I see, but I mean you had ten minutes...
Jim: I wanted to make sure I said everything I wanted to say.
Bob: I understand Jim, but it was ten minutes ago.
Jim: Sorry Bob.
See if it had been letters it would have been more than acceptable to wait a week or more to respond. Awesome.

Finally, I love how intimate letters are. I have a handful of really personal and intimate letters I have received in my life, and I honestly do treasure . I have a box where I put them all so that one day I can look over them and remember the people who wrote them to me. I know that if the world were to come to an end, I would not head over to my computer and read my "wall posts" from start to finish. No I would go to my box with photos, keepsakes, and of course- my letters. I would sit and read them and think about the moments that were recounted in them. After all, i'd rather have my memories in a box than on a hard drive.