Week 13 : The Lost Art of Letters

I’ve always loved handwritten letters. Ever since I was a little girl, I always thought there was something about that little red flag sticking up in the air. It isn’t unusual for me to send cards or letters to my friends or people I am thinking about on a regular basis, actually I can be accused of doing so quite often. As a matter of fact, I was known to one of my friend’s boyfriend’s as the “girl that writes letters.” No, I’m not joking. Letter writing is some serious business.

Because “snail mail” is something that has captured my heart, I wrote Hawk 12 letters before he deployed. I wanted him to have one for each month he would be gone. I wasn’t sure how long the letters would take to arrive in the mail, so I gave them on Our Day before he left. Every month it’s been a highlight. “Today is June 1st! Know what that means?” He gets to read my letter. Sometimes he’s even read them while Skyping me and I get to see his sweet “I love you” smile as his eyes cross over the penned words. I live for that smile. I love that smile. 

Since then, I have sent maybe ten or more letters. I have really lost count. I send him one every week. And when I ask him what he would like for me to do for him he tells me to send him more. I write when I think of him…which is often. I write on legal pads. I write on girly stationary. I write on empty journal pages. I just write to him. I never seem to run out of words. I save my letters so I have a stash and mail one every week so he is constantly getting notified of mail.

I just want to bring that smile, that hidden smile, that glorious smile to his face. I want him to feel encouraged and loved during this time when he is so far away. I want to give him a piece of home, a piece of me when he is homesick.

It’s a lost art form, but it’s my art form. It’s how I express myself.

And maybe that was cultivated in me for such a time as this.