Close to Home by John McPherson for April 13, 2010

Wow, Dad, can we touch it?

Ahhh, communiques from the past but can linger for an eternity and be read by succeeding generations. Letter writing is a lost art. I haven’t received a decent letter for at least a decade because of the advent of the internet.

Back in the last century, everyone learned how to write letters. The archaeologists claimed that they’ve strange instruments called fountain pens.

After a USPS career, I can say the happiest time of year was in May when all the hand address cards came to someone named “Mom”

Funny thing is, those kids are in the 10-year-old range. If dad’s in the 35-year-old range, he probably didn’t do much letter writing himself! I’m much older than that and still got into e-mail as a young man.

I’ve been emailing since 85 and still don’t like it.

bills still come that way AND online. grrr! :-D

hey kids, why don’t you ask your teacher if you can take a field trip to the local post office to see how that place works when you send a letter

you STILL depend on the mail (and the other package services) to get actual , physical items that you send for….you may email the order for them but they still have to be physically delivered to you….don’t see that changing anytime soon

And no, letters have nothing to do with Pa-per View….

Heck, we even used to get a lot of Christmas cards every year…….

“Did y’all have indoor plumbing & color TV?”

10eapolis - Since you haven’t had a good letter in a long time, I thought that I’d write you one. Ready?

Enjoy!

and the one person that I still sent letters back and forth with has finally gotten an email address. sad.

I like e-mail better than getting mail from the P.O. Besides it costs .43 for a stamp these days, then,what do you do with the letter? Keep it; throw it out? Yes, I do realize I’m in the minority here! LOL Would you all like to go back to the old days, give up your computers, IPods,cell phones, etc.?

I could do without the etc.

Jascat, it HAS been a long time since you sent a letter! Stamps are 44¢ now.

I write 2 letters each year - Grandma’s birthday and Grandma’s Christmas card. Well, technically, I type 2 letters a year - somedays even I can’t read my handwriting, don’t want to inflict that on Grandma’s 91-year-old eyes.

I got a real letter just yesterday. The 96 yo wrote it on her computer, printed three copies and mailed them to three of her friends! She also uses the ‘puter to write a column for the weekly newspaper. No wireless at the NH so she isn’t on the internet.

A couple of days ago, Jeremy in “Zits” got a letter and asked, “What do I do with it?”

Been there, done that–even in the recent ’80s.