Write on

 No foolin' - today begins National Letter Writing Month.  For the next thirty days, we are urged to make an effort to send good old fashioned postal mail to our family and friends.  This is something I've strived to do for the past several years.  With varied success.  The goal is to each day create one personal missive to be mailed to a lucky recipient, thereby reviving an age-old method of communication.  For many, the ritual of composing of a physical, hand written (or in my case, often typewritten) letter, note or card recalls pleasant memories of a slower, simpler time.  There is still something about receiving a physical personal letter that no intangible, digital communication can match.  Direct, personal, and durable, written letters cannot be replaced or will ever entirely vanish.  The amateur historian in me also values written correspondence as an invaluable record of history.  So much of what we know about people in our past comes to us from a written record.  So this month, I pledge to once again make an effort to send at least one letter each day, and in doing, revive some relationships that have flagged, despite digital connections that sometimes are overwhelming.  Perhaps you who read this will be a lucky recipient of a letter I write this month; write one to me, and you can definitely expect one in reply.