The rarer it gets, the more special it gets.
I have a friend, Tracey, who used to live in my town, then she and her husband moved three hours away a decade ago. I and another mutual friend would visit about once a year. Those visits dropped away the past few years.
Tracey and and her husband still send out old-fashioned Christmas cards, usually with a typed letter detailing their activities during the year. I always enjoyed receiving those.
I never post to my Charlotte Frost Facebook page, and rarely to my personal FB page. I use the latter mainly to join groups and keep up with family. Last July, I did post about Authentic's victory in the Grade 1 Haskell, so if he did make it to the Derby, no one could say after the fact that they wished they'd known about it beforehand. In August I did a post about losing my Beagle.
A few weeks ago, I received a sympathy card from Tracey, and she'd written a lengthy message by hand, saying she just happened to get on FB and see my posts about Sammie and Authentic.
It felt like a special treat getting that letter. The Kentucky Derby was still ten days away, and I wanted to respond with background on Authentic and other things that have recently gone on in my life. A text or postcard wouldn't do for whole paragraphs. Tracey doesn't really do email, so if I composed an email, I'd then need to text her to check out her email account. So, I thought, "Why not write her a letter back? And send it via snail mail?" It had felt like such a special treat getting her card, that surely she'd feel it was a special treat to receive a "real" letter back.
So, I wrote a 1.5 single-spaced pages in Google Docs, updating my 2020, which had been fabulous. I put it in an envelope and dropped it into a mailbox.
I didn't hear anything from Tracey in the immediate aftermath of the Derby. Then yesterday I got a handmade card with a horse graphic on it. On the back was a handwritten message of what a pleasant surprise it was to get my letter with all my updates, and what a thrill it was to watch Authentic win the Derby. And many wishes for hoping we get together soon.
We'll need to do that.
In the meantime, it feels like I now have a grand idea of what to do when I want to make contact with someone I have infrequent communication with. A snail mailed letter is outdated enough that it now brings a nostalgic smile.