I love mail. Good old fashioned mail. I have a pen pal and today I sent off a package. I love dressing up packages so that they're fun to get. I wrap everything in brown paper. Then you can write all over it, or you can tie it up in string, so that when the person gets it, invariably they are singing "My Favorite Things" for the rest of the day. Who doesn't love mail? Email is the tool of the day, and I'm not disparaging it, but when you're in college (even today), the only thing that makes you feel really really amazing is a care package from home, or a letter from someone put in your mailbox. Even if that letter is from your roommate, and she could have just told you. Mail makes you feel loved. It is a concrete thing that you can hold in your hand and know that someone was thinking about you.
You may wonder what started this pen pal craze of mine in 2009. Well, I saw the movie Julie and Julia, and while Julie's blog was interesting and fun, I was more captivated by Julia and her pen pal. She always had a letter in her hand, she was always writing one. No matter the letter, no matter where she was, letters came and they were like the newspaper. I'm sure as she got older she probably resorted to email like the rest of us, but I like to think that she always wrote letters.
I used to have lots of penpals. Living in a tourist area almost guarantees it. I had friends from camp every year, and an assignment in the 4th grade where we were given a pen pal. Mine was Elizabeth, and we actually wrote for a year or so. That was fun. Many of my international friends and I still write, though admittedly, it is more often through email or facebook that I do my correspondence. Also, I had all of their addresses in a memory book that was passed around when I was in highschool, and it was lost for 10 years. I got it back this year, and now I wonder who will remember me, and why I don't remember some of them!
Letters are such a great way to remember people. I often deleted emails from my grandmother, but I am fairly certain I have most, if not all the letters she ever wrote me, for birthdays or any reason. I was so proud when I became able to read her writing. I have her to thank also for the meticulous way I write now :).
I want a song to go with letters, but if you notice, most songs are about sad letters. That's not good. My Baby Wrote Me a Letter would be ok. Please, Mr. Postman...hmmm. Maybe. Hmmm. Brad Paisley's Letter to Me is sweet. I don't know, a song about mail is just not hitting today. We'll see what comes up.
So today is a worry-free zone, as my lovely friend reminded me yesterday. Today I write letters and I don't worry about not working. Hopefully I'll hear something today, but I am not sitting by the phone. There is a beautiful fog out in the park this morning, and geese and turkeys. I'm going to go for a walk with another lovely friend and enjoy the day. Many a day have I wasted by sitting inside, staring at the sunlight, worrying about my future and destroying the present. When I look back on this year, will I remember anything but the worry? My friend and I have much to worry about, but she reminds me that it won't help anything and now is the time for action. Can waiting be an action? Maybe my action will be to get a pedicure. Or a massage. Let's start with the walk :).
Today's Song of the Day is:
Heavenly Day, Patty Griffin
http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/song/Heavenly_Day/49054
Did you see that one coming?
Do you remember when you and your brothers bought me a very worried sparrow? I still have it. It was a visual you gave me to remind me that God's Word instructs us not to worry. Inspired by a children's book, “The Very Worried Sparrow”, that I would read to you in hopes of teaching you what I needed to learn myself. We are all a work in progress… at least we strive & hope we are making progress.
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