After re-reading several hand-written letters from friends over the years, I am once again overcome with just how wonderful people are - all people. To be connected with others is the joy of life - even for one as introverted and as unskilled in that practice as me.
I hope that today's youth, in this electronic age, will still take the time to write a letter by hand to a friend, to a love interest, now and then. Emails, phone calls and texts are wonderful, but to have proof of the physical care of writing is something that is overwhelmingly lovely.
I am universally grateful to friends who wrote to me from visiting beer breweries, friends who wrote to me on summer vacation from college, friends who wrote to me after summer camp, friends who wrote notes to me when we were apart, friends who wrote to me when we were together. I am grateful for letters from girlfriends who helped me on my journey. I am grateful for affectionate notes from my mother and honest letters from my father before he died. I am grateful for words from my brother, a constant teacher to me. I am grateful for pastoral letters from my grandparents and birthday poems from my uncle. And I am grateful to read letters from my future wife - someone whose faith in me helped me to become who I am, and who I can only hope to have helped in the same way. These are words that sing with quiet, steadfast life, through an undercurrent of excitement, concern and hope; words which almost sing of our future family without ever daring to think that was a possibility.
All these physically written words from the friends of my life fill me, or better yet, they remind me that I am filled.
My greatest wish is that from time to time we should all feel this connected, that we should realize our relationships are the fabric of that most blessed state - to feel an essential part of the the whole.
I am unworthy, but to think this is an irrelevant absurdity when this state is upon you - for it is you. Can you be unworthy of yourself? Surely the answer is yes! And no, at once. And thank God for that.
Handwritten letters are truly something to value in life. They offer an accurate window through which to view life and all of its experiences! Great post sir!
ReplyDeleteWow Steve, just read this comment. You never cease to impress me with your ability to share your knowledge, insight, and feelings so well through written word. I am humbled that you would consider me a "constant teacher" to you. You have certainly influenced my life to such a high degree that I could never quite assess just how much it is. From protecting your little brother against the bullying of our neighbor Andy, to teaching me to explore the world using my mind while in college (aka, think "outside the box" that was called ENID), to watching you be such an amazing dad and husband and learning from you as you learn.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, great stuff. Also, I LOVE this comment from your post, referring to old notes from Susan: "These are words that sing with quiet, steadfast life, through an undercurrent of excitement, concern and hope; words which almost sing of our future family without ever daring to think that was a possibility."