Communication

Do you remember when we used to wait for the mail to come every day?  Hoping for a card or letter

from a loved one?  Or just being anxious to receive something we had ordered?  Of course, there were the bills and statements, and ads, and magazines, etc. but it was all communication.

I miss receiving letters.  For many, many years I made it a point to write to our mothers every week.  We also called them, but our Moms liked letters.  And they would write to us.  Even after they could no longer write return letters, I sent them our letters.  It was important.  I truly miss getting their letters.

I still have a stack of letters that Les sent to me while he was stationed in Thailand shortly after we were married.  Back then you couldn't just pick up a phone and call.  And the Internet had not been born yet, so we wrote long letters to each other.  We also had small tape recorders and would record messages to each other and put the small reels in snail mail.  It was so good to hear his voice.

Remember receiving thank you notes?  Acknowledgements of  gifts or good deeds?  I don't know about you, but I like to know when a gift is received and if it is appreciated.  There is no excuse, ever,  for not thanking the giver of a gift.

I have heard people saying that when they don't get an acknowledgement of a gift, they just don't give that person another gift ever.  Drastic, but I can understand how they made that decision.  Others say that when they send someone a check, they don't sign it so the receiver has to contact them.  Also, drastic.  Somehow, in the busyness of life today, manners have fallen quite often by the wayside.  So, please, remember to say "please", "thank you", and respond to people.

I also just like to know what is going on in the world of my family and friends; to know that they are well and happy.  The world news and the political news is such that I often tune a lot of that out.  I want to hear about happy things.

Almost all of our bills come electronically now.  And I use the secured online bill pay feature through our credit union to pay them.  So that cuts down on incoming and outgoing mail.  Most days we just stand by the waste basket when we bring the mail in.  As we sort, almost all of the mail goes in the trash or the recycle bin.  Hardly a day goes by that we don't receive offers to get another credit card and requests for donations; those requests are often from groups we've never heard of.

I think we get more packages now since more shopping is done online.  I've been working on Christmas shopping and almost all so far has been done online.

But, here we are.  Technology has changed the world.  For better in so many, many cases.  But I truly think it has ruined the art of communication.  Sometimes a one sentence email, a text, a tweet, or an emoji  just doesn't cut it.  It is not the same.

Stay safe and God Bless America!