SEND ME A POSTCARD, DARLING

Be honest, when was the last time you wrote a letter?

And I am talking about a proper, hand-written, ink-on-paper letter? None of them fancy facebooky things: statuses, updates, pms, tweets, emails, text messages and what not.

The digital world truly has taken over, and yet, every now and then I do receive a postcard with an incredibly tacky image on the front not-so-subtly reminding me that, unlike you, I am not spending my afternoons slurping margueritas at beach parties on hawaii.

It's cool though, the office is buzzing with energy also. There may not be any booze, but people are still going crazy!

Now if I am incredibly lucky, I will even receive a multi-page letter. It'll be so long, it will have needed to be folded twice in order to fit into the envelope! Yeah, I know, insanity!

Admittedly, this really does only happen on very special occasions.

These occasions being the usual: Christmas, birthdays and, well, that's kind of it.

I do have a few friends that prefer putting pen to paper over jabbing away on a keyboard though. I can always count on their letters, just because! Which is something I not only greatly appreciate, but deeply admire.

Because for some obscure reason, I am really, like really, bad at getting back to these people... Shame on me!

Because actually, hand-written letters are the most beautiful thing, I love receiving them! They are so personal, so heartfelt, so full of honest emotions. And now that writing letters has become a rarity, it has become just that much more meaningful!

So over the past few days, I have taken the time to simply write some letters.

I know, I am such a rebel!

My favorite way to do this is by printing off some of my favorite images found on my hard drive. Or on my pinterest, which is more likely...

I have them printed at my local drug store where they have these handy-dandy printers. You insert your USB flash drive, select your photos and out they come! Each copy costs only a few cents and it doesn't take long to print. Having read all of the ingredients on my shampoo bottle a mere ten times I was all set to grab my freshly printed photos and head to the check-out lane! Easy peasy!

On average, I would say every recipient typically gets about 3-4 lettered photographs. Which means I don't post them as postcards, but stick them into envelopes.

I also make sure to use a permanent marker (a very thin one of course, otherwise I'd need about ten more images for each recipient), because the photographic paper is not the easiest to write on...

Sometimes I try to match the photos to their recipients, going my hobbies, character traits or colors. And sometimes I simply draw random photos from the pile upside down, finish the letter and then surprise myself with the random choice I made.

What can I say, I love to make a game of it!

And I must say, I did have quite a lot of fun with these! I find it almost as nice as being the addressee! I definitely need to do this more often! And I can only encourage you to do the same!

I am sure there is a grandfather, mother, BFF or lover out there somewhere who would be more than thrilled, and even more so, surprised by this sweet little gesture!

So I say, this month, ditch your digital devices just once and, in the words of Shocking Blue, 'Send me a postcard, darling!'

Or you know, someone you're a little closer to. That's fine also.

MUSIC PARING:

Shocking Blue, Send Me a Postcard