Do

There are some things we can only say with ink, paper, and a stamp.

Every year on both Christmas and my birthday my two great-aunts, Annabelle and Mary Lou send me a card in the mail with $20 in it. At Christmas they are one of the few who send cards and at my birthday they are one of the two who send cards.

I know we are in the electronic age. Really, I greatly appreciate that fact when I need a snippet of information from someone who I have no inclination or intention on carrying on a conversation with so: I text them! Or when I am at work and really miss talking to my old cube mate from a former job: I e-mail! When I want to briefly check in on a friend in New Hampshire: time to instant message! And when I have not seen my husband in days because of our schedules- text and e-mail and add in some sporadic phone calls!

Despite growing up in a period when the ability to communicate with each other is at its greatest zenith since the telegraph, there are some things we can only say with ink, paper, and a stamp. In a letter or a card we are forced, for better or worse, to have a one-sided conversation.

I recently turned 29 and consequently had a birthday party. Personally, no matter what message I relate on the outside, insisting that I do not want a big party or numerous acknowledgments, on the inside I want a fuss, I want all my friends and family around because it is the one day out of the year that is a celebration of just me. However, as we get older we get busy and it becomes hard to carve time out, even for a celebration.

Fortunately, my 29^th was a success story and because of this success, I decided to run out and buy thank you cards. This is not an out of character move for me, but it has been a while since the occasion moved me to write notes of thanks. In writing my cards though, I rediscovered what a good and decent thing it is to do. As I thanked each and every person for coming I had the opportunity to have that one sided conversation, telling them all in a personalized way that I really appreciated them at my party.

There are some things we can only say properly with ink, paper, and a stamp. I have told my very best friend in Arizona numerous times how much she means to me, I have told my very brave childhood friend and former neighbor how courageous she is in my eyes for entering the Air Force at the very unconventional age of 27, and I have told my new neighbor how very sorry I was when she lost her father.

The lesson here would be that after each of the instances above I received ink, paper, and a stamp in return. The markings on each page revealed a shared sentiment from Arizona that was never conveyed by phone, gratitude from a boot camp in Texas from a friend who had no other means of communication, and heartfelt thanks from a neighbor that would never have come with the usual friendly passings.

There are some things you can only say with ink, paper, and a stamp. Often times, they are the things that are most worth saying.