Old fashioned snail mail

When I was younger, I wrote a lot of letters. I wrote to my friends when I'm in Baguio for school. I wrote to my classmates when I'm in Manila or Zambales during vacation. I wrote to my grandparents when they went to the U.S. I wrote to my cousins. I wrote little notes and long letters to my college boyfriend. I wrote to my classmates and left it in the library or bulletin boards. I even had a penpal or two abroad whom I wrote to on a regular basis.

And it wasn't just regular writing, mind you. Oh sure it was often filled with little, inconsequential things about everything and nothing, but it wasn't just words. I drew on the margins, I painted on the envelopes and sometimes wrote with nothing but pictures.

It always gave me a thrill to walk to the post office and drop the letters off. The best thing though would be when I receive a letter in return. The guys I wrote to didn't really write much, but the girls were enthusiastic in writing and were as creative as I was with their letters, maybe more.

Sadly, it seems that the number of letter writers has dwindled over the years, in favor for the faster and more convenient email, online messengers and even social networking sites.

There is nothing wrong with that, but I miss the old fashioned writing method. Hence last year, I asked my friends to send me postcards or letters and I'll send some back to them. I've yet to keep up my end of the bargain *blush* but so far, I have received four letters/postcards. Now that doesn't seem much, considering I used to get four letters in a month, whereas this was over the course of six months.

However, it's still an achievement, and every time I receive one, I feel giddy. The first one was from my college classmate Kat, then a postcard from my best friend's sister when she was in Vienna. I got a birthday card from another classmate Thet (that was a surprise!) and just today, I got a postcard from my cousins who visited New York. The stamps were all from the UN, and one that had my cousins' picture in it.

It may no longer be the chosen way to keep in touch, but I'm sure people would appreciate it if you could send a letter or two every now and then. I know I would.

I'm off now to make some postcards.