A Letter in the Mail

When I was a little girl, I loved getting mail.  A letter addressed to only me!!  I had a few pen pals and got letters from my cousins now and then and every time those letters arrived in the mailbox, I treasured them.  I am sure if I looked hard enough, I could find some of them still scattered around my old bedroom of my dad’s house!  My brothers, sister and I would pick up  the mail everyday always hoping to find something in the pile for us.  Unless it was near our birthday, it was usually just a pile of bills and junk mail for my parents.

In college, (long before email or cell phones,) Dave and I wrote to each other all of the time.  I have those letters saved somewhere too.  I should dig them up.  I am sure there would be some great memories there!!!

These days, letters come even more infrequently.  With the ease of email, texts and the internet, it seems that a handwritten letter is a thing of the past.  About two weeks ago, I got a “real letter” in the mail from one of my students.  It was such a treat to find when I looked through the stack of bills and flyers that arrived in the mail slot that day.  It brought back so many memories of getting mail as a child.  I decided that I was going to hand-write and mail a letter to each of the students  in my class.  I didn’t want them all to be the same so it took me a few days to write all 23 of them.  They were just a small note written on a small note card asking about their summer and telling them a little bit about mine.

I mailed them over the weekend and I know that a bunch have already been received because I have seen some of the children and they have told me that they got them and a few parents emailed me to tell me how excited their child was to get that note in the mail. I even got a letter mailed back to me in response to one of them already.  It is great reading practice for them and if they decide to write back, then a great writing activity as well.

This was so easy for me to do.  I don’t know why I never thought of doing it before.  I have a feeling it will become something I do every summer from now on!

Tagged: a letter, a letter in the mail, before email, before email we wrote letters, i love getting mail, just a little note, Love notes, pen pal, snail mail