The Written Word Matters

I am not a very sentimental person. Yes, when my husband shows me the Facebook "on this day" memory of my kids in their toddler days (I don’t go on Facebook so I never see it otherwise), I do get teary-eyed. When it comes to keeping “stuff” however, I always throw it away instead. My husband jokes that if he sits down too long I will throw him in the trash. I am just not a keepsake kind of girl.There is one thing that I do tend to hold onto, though, and that is hand-written letters. I have a box in my closet marked “Memories” of notes from my parents, friends, and husband. The largest stack is from my very Southern Grandma who just passed away last month. I can’t tell you how thankful I am to have these memories.One of my favorites is actually one she wrote to Brad when we were engaged in 1998. She welcomes him to “my” family, notably not to be confused with “our” family. But that wasn’t the best line. She actually wrote, “I don’t consider Elizabeth very domesticated but I think she is a dear.” Who writes that? As a means of celebrating a marriage? She was so amazing; one of a kind.We laugh about this letter all the time in our family and now when I read it after her passing I got a little teary-eyed as well.The point I’m trying to make is, the written word matters. Yes we write emails, but it isn’t the same. You can’t -- or won’t twenty years from now -- hold an email in your hand and go through a box of them. My grandmother also always had beautiful stationary and penmanship, statements of how much she valued the medium. I will keep these letters forever.This week wraps up National Letter Writing month and our friends at the great Old Town boutique Penny Post is hosting an event to help remind us all of this lost art. Saturday we will have, in our courtyard at The Shoe Hive from 1-3pm, “Stamps and Stilettos” and let our shoppers write a letter or two. Come see us and drop a line to someone who matters. I promise the person on the other end will cherish it.