Letters from the heart

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Have you ever received a handwritten letter? One that someone has spent hours pouring their heart over?
I have, and I find it such a wonderful idea that someone could take time out of their day, to sit down and write a personal note to you. 

We are at an age where we are so used to texting and social media, so used to instant gratification. So impatient and unaccustomed to the dying act of long form letters. Now, I know we can write long emails to one another and I guess, blog posts for that matter, but for me it’s not the same.

Although a millennial, I am still of an age where I can say that I've had a pen pal. I was eight, he was seven and his name was Ben. Ben was from Australia, had two rabbits and that's pretty much all I can remember of him.  What I do remember is the excitement and anticipation that came with writing to someone across the world. The idea that someone thousands of miles away from me was taking the time to tell me about their day, send pictures and cards and then have it wing its way to me across the seas. Although it didn’t last long, it’s still a memory I hold dear.

This continued with my cousin in America, who would send me stickers and pictures, detailing the all things she had gotten up to since I had last seen her. Amidst her story were brightly coloured drawings filling every inch of the page. To this day, I still have her letters (and stickers for that matter). Without fail, every time I randomly stumble upon them when going through my drawers, they always bring a smile to my face. Now that we are older and our lives so different, I can still look back and remember the summers we spent together. They are a permanent reminder of our childhood friendship.

Now while letters between friends are wonderful, I recently encountered something different,  the elusive love letter. Not mine I assure you, but my parents. Whilst clearing out one of the bedrooms, they came across the letters they had sent each other when they first met. After only knowing each other a matter of days, they continued their romance through letters. First between Ireland and England and later between Ireland and Canada. I had always known that this was how their relationship first started, but was utterly floored when I was given the honour of reading them. It was such an honest and refreshing way of getting to know one another. I could feel their emotions through the pages, the delight of receiving each letter and the pain of still being so far from one another. You have such a small window to say all that you feel, and yet the freedom to be as honest and as open as you want, without the embarrassment of the person standing in front of you. 

It was beautiful.

It also got me thinking, when has someone been that open and honest with me? Be it friendship or otherwise?

That’s when I remembered the letter from one of my best friends.  Having long past my days of pen pals, I was shocked when a handwritten letter was delivered to the house. She explained that they had been given the task in school to think about the 10 things you want to do before you die. Rather than taking a morbid view of it, she decided she wanted to tell the people closet to her, how she truly felt about them, and how they had changed her outlook on life. I'm not going to go into the details but needless to say, it is a letter I treasure and hope to always keep. Having just re-read it, it still manages to bring the happiest of tears to my eyes. For which, I am eternally grateful. 

The common theme with all these letters is sitting down and taking the time be open and honest with the people closest to you. Be it to share your innermost feelings or just to share your day. I know they reminded me of how it important it is to savour these moments. Take the time to slow down and write some letters from the heart. I know I will.

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Labels: friendship , honesty , Jennifer Fahy , letters , letters from the heart , Life , love , love letters , pen pals , pieces of me , writing