Write Me!

Since I started, I learned that most of my friends live on all different sides of the country. The mid-west really does bring people together! I have friends who live in Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas... the list could go on and on. Thanks to the lovely world of Facebook and Skype it isn't very hard to contact and keep in touch with most of my friends. But, as you get older, you learn that talking to someone the internet isn't the same.

Over the past few weeks, I have been mailing and receiving letters from school friends from all over the place, through this system some would call "snail mail". Not only is getting a letter in the mail exciting, it also carries a special meaning to it. Not only can one say to themselves "hey! this person likes me enough to spend a full 40 cents on me" ... but they also decided to take the time to get out paper, find a pen, sit down, and write you a letter. When in reality, they could of emailed you in about five times less time.

Plus, it is kind of cool to open a letter, and think about where the letter came from. My friend actually touched this paper, folded it up, put it in the envelop, and then some random mail man took this letter from the other side of the country, and put it in my mail box. Pretty neat stuff.

The idea of writing (using your own handwriting instead of a key board) also adds a lot of personally touch. It makes everything seem so much more real and personal.

Clearly, I love getting letters. And I love writing them, because I know they will make my friends feel special and know that I am thinking about them. Today, technology has defiantly changed the way we think about communication. We take it for gradated every day. I think that the true challenge, is to ask ourselves "does this person mean enough to me, for me to sit down and take those extra ten minutes and do something different and special?"

And that is my challenge to you for today. Sit down and write a friend a letter. Even if they live down the street, or you see them every day. Because I can promise you, no matter how far they live, getting a letter (instead of a bill) in the mail will brighten their day. And if you don't have anyone to write to, you are always more then welcome to write to me.

Rachel.