Remember waaaaaay back when you were a kid and something came for you in the mail? This magical event tended to occur only on holidays like birthdays or xmas. Your primary objective was seeking out that annual card from Aunt Thelma who always enclosed $5. You tore open the envelope, withdrew the bill (~insert cursory glance at the actual card here~), then blew the whole thing on candy within the first 48 hours of receipt.
Remember when mom made you write thank-you notes to Aunt Thelma and how she gushed obnoxiously at the next family function about how polite you were? No one ever told her that your parents locked you in your room and threatened you with death and dismemberment if the task was not successfully completed. Aunt Thelma ACTUALLY BELIEVED you were THAT NICE. (Don’t worry, I’ll never tell your dirty little secret.)
Now that we’re all Net-Webby Email-Mongers (you like that? I just made it up myself) who spend hours a day chukka-chukking on keyboards, handwriting is gradually lapsing into extinction. I shall not disparage modern technological advances because I firmly believe they have enabled us to communicate more frequently and effectively with the people we care about…
and with the people we find interesting…
and with the people we’d never otherwise meet…
AAAAANnnnnnd that this is a VERY good thing.
However…
I looooooove stationery. I love fancy pens and pretty notecards with the words all loop-de-looped in uneven, imperfect letters and paragraphs.
Back in the latter phase of the snail mail era, I was smitten with a boy who was frequently far away. He used to write to me at least once a week and I would put his letter under my pillow until I got the next one. His hands had touched the same piece of paper…he'd breathed on it while thinking of exactly what he wanted to say to me. I would sometimes reach under my pillow just to feel his phantom fingerprints on the envelope.
My best friend and I used to go to The Grasshopper Shop in Bangor and pick out elaborate stationery so we could correspond in style.
We drew pictures and included odd bits of this and that to enhance the content. We sprayed our signature scents on the paper to alert the reader they were getting a letter from someone who not only wrote fabulous letters, but smelled good, too.
We drew pictures and included odd bits of this and that to enhance the content. We sprayed our signature scents on the paper to alert the reader they were getting a letter from someone who not only wrote fabulous letters, but smelled good, too.
TOP FIVE REASONS “HANDWRITTEN” MAKES ME HAPPY
- 1) That lovely custom stationery bit
- 2) Also, that bit about touching the same thing someone else touched and feeling all gooey and warm inside about that
- 3) It’s a valid excuse to own an outrageously expensive pen that writes pretty
- 4) Feeling important enough that someone took the time to write something meant especially for me
- 5) Having tangible memories of people who may no longer be in my life, but were so important and so wonderful when they were there
If you wanna splurge and really treat yourself and others, you have many options available to you. Here are a few to get you started:
->Go to everyday places like Staples, Office Max, Hallmark, etc., and buy some nice stationery, envelopes and cards. (Use your computer for fancifying things that will impress everyone with your techno-knowledge if you like, but write SOMETHING in ink, willya?)
Some places in Maine that I like to get things are:
- The Grasshopper Shop www.grasshoppershop.com (they're in Bangor, Searsport, Ellsworth and Rockland and they also have a bunch of other cool stuph)
- Leapin' Lizards in Portland and Freeport (very pagan-friendly place)
- The Grateful Earth in Lewiston (cool hippy-friendly place that most peeps don't know about)
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