Making Memories Monday: Communicating with the Written Word

I am a writer.  I love to write, and I love to read what others have written.  There is just something about the way the written word conveys one’s message that, to me, the spoken word can rarely match.

Recently, my Mom gave me a folder of papers she found as she was cleaning out her files.  In the folder were a small pile of letters I had written over the years; letters like this one, written to my Grandmother and Grandfather shortly before my fifth birthday. (Apparently I enjoyed writing from a rather young age):

Dear Mommy, Jamie wants you to wake him when you get home.  He is in a very crying mood.  He cried 3 times in the last 5 minutes.  Love, Jenny  P.S.  Wake me up, too if I (continued on back) don’t wake up just kiss me.  Private:  For Mommy

These letters bring back memories of times, simple everyday times, that would be long forgotten were they not recorded in writing.  There are no photographs of these moments, no scrapbook pages, nothing to bring them to mind over 30 years later, and yet, they provide a glimpse into my day-to-day life that a scrapbook page couldn’t.

My boys don’t enjoy writing.  Thank you notes are torture for them, and even though they LOVE receiving mail, the idea of writing a letter to a friend leaves them whining and complaining that writing takes too long and is too hard.  But alas, I persist in having them write in hopes that my boys will  one day enjoy writing… or at least that they may one day write me a letter, an every day kind of letter that I might save until they are adults and share with them thereby reminding them of the times back when.

To encourage the boys to write, last year we instituted Pen Pal Tuesday, a time set aside each and every Tuesday for letter writing.  My original idea involved all of us using the time to write, myself as well as the boys, but in actuality, the boys still need a great deal of help and encouragement to write their letters, so I have had to set my writing aside for another time.

On Pen Pal Tuesday, both Ryan and Connor write a letter to a pen pal, a thank you note for a gift received, or a sponsorship note to one of our World Vision children.  Here’s a letter Connor wrote to his cousin, Sarah, on one such Tuesday this past winter:

The boys choose who they will write to and what form that note will take:  greeting card, plain paper, or decorated paper.  Some days they write as little as possible and seal the letter quickly into an envelope.  Other days, they spend just as much time decorating the note as they did writing it.  And still other days, they search out stickers or photographs or even a Perler Bead design to enclose with their note.  But no matter what their letter says or what type of paper they’ve chosen to write it on, each time they drop a note into the mailbox, I smile to think that they are learning the art of letter writing, albeit reluctantly, and I hope that one day they will understand the importance of putting their words on paper every now and then.

Do you write letters, even with all of today’s high-tech options for communication?  Do you have a letter you’ve saved that makes you smile each and every time you read it?  Link up and share this or one of your other special memories for Making Memories Monday this week.

Just a reminder… posts do not have to relate to the topic of my post. Making Memories Monday posts can be a memory of the past, a story from your present, or an idea you have for creating a memory for the future. It’s your choice. But…

Remember:

1. Please leave a link back to Adventures in McQuill-land on your Making Memories Monday post!
2. Add your name to the MckLinky at Adventures in McQuill-land and enter a 2-3 word subject to give blog hoppers an idea of what we’ll find at your post. Like this: Jennifer @ McQuill-land (playing dress-up).
3. AND… Please be sure to link to your individual Making Memories Monday post, not your home page. This makes it easier for blog hoppers to find your shared memory.