Keeping in Touch With Friends

I'm going to do a little musing and reminiscing here so pardon my nostalgia.  I have been thinking a little lately about letter writing.  I started writing letters when I was still in grade school.  I don't know for sure when, but I do know I moved and wanted to keep in touch with a couple of my friends and former teachers.  I also wrote to my cousins and to my grandparents when they served a mission for our church.  As I entered Junior High and High School I kept up with my letter writing, adding friends I made from other towns, or friends from home when I went away for a couple of months.  I also began to write to missionaries.  At this time e-mail was still pretty new and phone calls could be expensive.  I wrote a lot of letters. 

With all of this letter writing I was able to keep in touch with a lot of friends for quite a while.  Letters from my cousins were some of my most prized possessions because they were some of my best friends.  I shared more thoughts from my heart and in return received many heartfelt letters in return.

Then life changed.  I got busy.  E-mail became more prevalent, and I lost touch with a good many of my friends.  I miss those days of writing letters.  I miss having a tangible expression of friendship and caring that I can read over and over again.

Today we have blogs and facebook.  I have been able to reconnect with some of those friends through these means.  I can read about some of what is going on in their lives and they can read about mine, but it feels impersonal sometimes.  I know that there are many details that I don't put on facebook or on my blog because they are too personal and private to just put out there, but things that I would tell friends if I was talking to them or writing a letter.  I'm sure that they are the same way. 

I'm happy to be able to connect with these friends.  If I am going to be anywhere near them I can get ahold of them and see about getting together.  It is fun to read about their lives, including pictures, for free.  I can't help but feel sad for what is lost, though.  I miss the intimacy of a letter.  I miss the thrill of going out to the mailbox and seeing my name on an envelope, and not having it be a bill.  It is nice to be able to curl up in a chair on in bed and read a letter, instead of sitting in front of a screen.  So, while I think technology is wonderful, I do think some things were better before.