Communications

This week for Slice of Life, we are to share how communication has change in our life time.  That got my mind to thinking about this box:

I pulled it down off the top self in my closet and have been going through it off and on through this week.  It is filled with letters.  Mostly letters that Mike and I wrote to each other while we were dating and in the first few years of our marriage.  He was serving in the Navy at the time. We have hundreds of letters.(My children are forbidden to read them until we are both passed and gone, as it could prove to be embarrassing)  Letter writing was the best way and many times the only way for us to communicate in those early years of our relationship.  The box also has letters from family and close friends.  I thought I would share just a few examples.  If you click on them you can read them better if you are interested. 

  
 This letter is from my Aunt Gertie, my Dad's sister.  She is missing her husband Ray, but also expresses gratitude for her blessings.  That is a great example to me.

This letter is from my mother.  Whenever she bought a pineapple she would cut off the top and try to get it to grew in a pot.  I had forgotten about that, until I read the letter.  I also love how at the end, she says, she is "just trying to be a mother."  Our jobs as mothers don't end just because our children are grown and married.

This letter is from my brother Mike.  He wrote this soon after I was married. I'm not sure why I needed to R.S.V.P!!  If you want confusion in communication marry someone with the same name as your brother.  I would always have to clarify with my mom, which Mike I was talking about. 

This letter is from Mike's (my husband's) Grandma Pearl.  I had forgotten I even had a letter from her, so this was an extra sweet find.  I love having the signatures of Grandmas and Grandpas!!

This Thank You came from the sweet Elders who baptized us.  I loved the stamp with the Mission name.  We were able to meet up with Elder Barth a few winters ago and had a great reunion.  I had forgotten about this letter too.  I also found a wedding invitation from Elder Barth.   Oh, and if you are wondering who Niki is, that was our dog. 

Here is one of Mike's many, many letters to me!  This one seemed safe to post. It is so fun to go back and read these.  Hopefully, you are listening to "If", I added it to my playlist. 

And, of course a letter that I wrote to Mike.  Sometimes we would get silly and write backwards, or in circles or in many different colors like this letter.

In spending time this week looking over this treasure box of memories, I couldn't help but wonder about the next generation.  How do you save text messages, or Facebook posts?  It is sad that we are losing the art of communicating with letters.  I realize that I need to write more letters to my children and grandchildren so they can have something tangible to remember me by.