Question of the day
So do you keep old correspondences? I mean like real, snail mail letters from friends and family? Do you pack them up and move them with the rest of your stuff?
I do. I've gotten a very good pitching arm since we had to pack up every stinkin' semester at Cov, but the letters I can't quite get rid of. I'm always thrilled to go back and read them occasionally. I still have letters from high school! Especially as snail mail has gotten more and more rare, I like the few notes and cards I have gotten; that one page encapsulating so much of the person's personality, gleaming through the words that she herself has written (I'll admit, except for when Chris and I were long-distance dating and the very rare note from my dad, all my correspondents are female).
It's notes like these that I just can't bear to throw away:
Received from former high school English teacher, former dorm mother (or grandmother?), close family friend on 25 March 2003:
Dear Jeannette, Thanks for all your emails. I read them with interest...[blah, blah, newsy bits, etc.]...When I read your letter, I immediately thought I should correct all the uses of apostrophes. I was going to ask you first. Now as I re-read it, it doesn't seems so bad. As your old teacher, I felt responsible.... etc.
Guess my parents got their money's worth outta my high school education. My English teacher, looking out for me, years after I had graduated from college even! It's priceless. How can I just throw away something like this!?
Well, I'm not.
Comments
I used to, but I am such a throw awayer (is that a word?). I don't keep all of them, but I do keep letters from special friends, which is not that many b/c phone calls and emails seem to replace them.
Posted by: beth | 17.05.05 08:17
Comments
I kept all correspondence until I had to make a major move by myself. I through out everything but the essentials (10 years ago) and have regretted it on a weekly basis since then...
Posted by: DK | 17.05.05 09:00
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I too keep all my old correspondance. I keep them contained in a trunk. I periodically go thru and throw out stuff. Recently I was really thankful that I have save those letters over the years. My dad is in Iraq right now and he recently wrote me an e-mail about a passage of scripture he sent me when he was in the 1st Gulf War and well I was able to find that very letter. It was very special to be able to go back and read a letter that my Dad sent me nearly 15 years ago. Especially because he's so far away right now!
Posted by: austina | 17.05.05 09:23
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I keep some cards and letters, but only if they have something besides a generic messages. A "Happy Birthday, hope you have a great day" card from my grandma probably won't make the cut but a long letter from a good friend will. It is fun to re-read letters from years ago.
Posted by: jlg | 17.05.05 13:57
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I threw away a card from my step-grandma once. And then she died the next day.
Posted by: linnea | 17.05.05 20:38
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yeah, let that be a warning to you . . .
Posted by: linnea | 17.05.05 20:38
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Linnea, something so morbidly poetic could only come from you!
Posted by: Jeannette | 17.05.05 21:08