The Great Postcard Campaign: Mailbox Happiness

Thus starts the first month of the Great Postcard Campaign. Right now I have a total of 5 wonderful bloggy friends who have been so kind as to join me on my quest for some mailbox happiness.

I will go ahead and kick start the who shebang for the month of August. If you wish to join up, all you have to do is shoot me an email and provide a mailing address. I will not do anything with your mailing address except send you a postcard. When it's the next person's turn, I will provide them with your address to send a postcard. This is on the honor system and therefore, anyone who abuses this will be cut out of the "circle". You are only asked to send one postcard to each blogger on the list. You can spread them out, or send the postcards at once. When you receive a postcard, you can share it on your blog and if possible, link to the blogger who sent you the postcard. I do ask that you link back to me, and hopefully we can get more to participate in the campaign for mailbox happiness. Just grab the button and link to me.

If you wish to be a part of this, please email me! We'd love to have more join us!

I have an idea - but will it work?

I shall toss this idea out into the blogoshphere even though I have no idea if anyone will jump on the bandwagon. Or exactly how it will work. I just know that I've thought of it before, and after a couple days ago, I've been thinking about it every day. And I will gladly take your input.

The other day I got my mail. It was all a bunch of crapola. Most of my bills I either pay online or in person anymore. My rent and utilities are graciously paid for by my employers (aka, my grandparents). So in my mailbox was all junk mail. I didn't keep a single thing. I ripped it up and shoved it in the trash. It's freaking depressing, folks. Anymore, the only thing I have to look forward to is a DVD from Netflix, or on the off-chance I've made a purchase online, a package from whatever website I splurged on.

That's just sad, people.

I've written in the past about pen-pals I used to write to. I mean, actual physical letters. I was put a stamp on it, and mail it. And waited on pins and needles to get a reply. And believe me when I say, I always smiled when I got mail. Now, I started writing to pen-pals when I was in the 7th grade. And back then, that was the only mail I received at that age. After I moved out, I got bills which didn't make me smile. But what did were the letters I received. I even wrote these letters not using an email. After awhile, I would type the letters instead of handwriting them because I was usually typing an essay or research paper for my professors - so why not write a letter while I was sitting there. But I would always sign my name. It was the least I could do, right?

These days, I'll get a birthday card, or a Christmas card in the mail. That's about it. And that's only two days out of the year that people take time out to send someone else a card.

Here's what I propose: Some sort of letter campaign. Not even really a campaign per se. Devoting time to a lost art of sending something in the mail, just knowing that when that person opens their box, they get a smile. Postcard, letter, a simple card that just says "hi". Something simple. It doesn't have to be a 10 page letter unless you want it to be. There could be a rotation of some kind - one month it's my turn. Next month it's your turn. Of course, this only works if we are willing to hand over our physical/mailing addresses. I wouldn't ask anyone to post their information in the comment section - sending it via email would preserve some amount of privacy. And when you get a postcard, letter, or regular card from so-and-so, you can share it. Tell us what state it came from or something.

Anyway, I know that postal rates differ if we're mailing over our borders, but buying a stamp or two to send a card to someone across the pond or something can't be all that bad, right?

So, that's my idea. I'd love your feedback on this. Even if I just get a couple of people who want to do it, that's okay, too. So tell me what you think.

Memory Lane Wednesday: Pen Pals

Not long ago, I had an old pen pal find me on Facebook. I was so excited to hear from her, as it has been a couple years or more since we'd written letters. I mean, real letters. None of that e-mail crap.

I started writing to pen pals in 6th grade. My history teacher told us about a program that matched kids based on similar interests after filling out a form. My first pen pal was from Canada, and we wrote back and forth for several years. After that, I had pen pals from several countries, including Greece, Italy, England, and Ghana. 

For a long time, those letters were my only real mail that I received. I'm not counting cards that family sent me for Christmas or my birthday. I mean, until you live on your own, you really don't get mail. And even then, it's bills. Sick joke that is. I looked forward to getting those letters. It was so nice to get a letter. A real letter.

AF in England is the one who found me on Facebook. I don't know how long it took her to find me as I know there are hundreds of people with my name. I'm glad she did, though. I squealed with delight when I saw the friend request from her. She and I wrote for probably close to 10 years, and our biggest shared love was horses. She and I could easily write letters that were 2-4 pages long, sharing what went on in our lives.

Nowadays I forget what it's like to receive a real life letter. I get some Christmas cards in the mail every year, and a few birthday cards. But no letters. It's kind of sad, really. It seems to be a lost art form. We went from handwritten letters to e-mails to Facebook and MySpace. I've even gotten bad at just e-mailing.

My pen pal letters used to bring big smiles to my face and I couldn't wait to open them up to see what was new their part of the world. I miss that. Not that I'm not happy to be able to keep up with AF on Facebook or anything, because I am. And communication is a lot faster that way. And I don't miss having to run to the Post Office to make sure I got enough postage for an overseas letter. Because trust me, it takes forever for the mail to get it back to you if you don't have enough postage on it.

Even though technology makes it easier and faster for all of us to communicate, I miss sitting down and writing a letter to my pen pals. And I miss getting their handwritten ones. I'm sure there will come a generation when they won't even learn to write, they'll just type. And then it will all be lost. Sending and receiving letters will probably be a long lost art form for years to come. But I had fun while it lasted. And that's what matters most.