by Sam Trailerman
To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere, without moving anything but your heart.” So says a beautiful quote by Phyllis Grissim-Theroux.
When was the last time any of you wrote a letter? Now, I’m not referring to those hastily-crafted chats and text messages we send to friends daily or weekly via our phones. But a real letter.
Those honest-goodness letters, written on colourful and fragrant letter-pads, folded neatly in unique and fancy geometric shapes, slipped into an even prettier envelope and with a stamp on the right-hand corner to be dropped into any red-coloured (or is it yellow now?) post box.
The art of letter writing seems to have taken a backseat in our fast-paced digital world these days. While emails and texts are convenient, they often lack a handwritten letter’s personal touch and thoughtfulness.
Many people cherish the intimacy and effort that goes into crafting a letter, making it a special way to communicate. There’s something timeless about receiving a letter in the mail that can evoke nostalgia and a sense of connection.
Letter writing held an important place in my life since I was 16. It was then I wrote my first letter to a pen pal from the USA, Peggy McChulley.
You see, I got a post card from her through an organisation called Big Blue Marble. This was a half-hour children’s television programme aired from 1974 to 1983. At the end of each programme, Big Blue Marble often invited viewers to write in to connect with would-be pen pals.
Pen palling transported me from the mid-1970s till the 1990s. Letters were our primary way of staying in touch then. These letters would fly back and forth and be perhaps our only means of staying updated with each other’s lives.
Waiting at the doorstep just to see the postman cycling down the small alley leading to our home was like seeing Santa with the red bag of goodies during Christmas.
What’s even more satisfying was when the postman would be flapping your letter in the air with a grin. If that wasn’t magical enough, what else then would do in a pre-Internet world without computers and cell phones?
Time always seemed to be zipping by fast for me, especially with my vast numbers of pen pals from countries like Russia, Finland, West Germany (before reunification), Mexico, Japan and many more. In short, I would say I wrote to pen pals on every continent.
I would get so many letters in my letter box on a daily basis except Sundays. I chuckled at one time when the price of letter boxes actually doubled after a rule was introduced where no letters would be delivered if a household didn’t have a letter box!
Life was fun with sunshine and rainbows as the somewhat scratchy sound of the pen’s nib on the writing paper was actually music to my ears as it “bled” words between my fingers. I never ran out of pretty stationery as I would have them stacked up to write to special friends.
When I say special, it was because I could churn out no less than 20 pages from my mind on everything under the sun and moon as conversation topics.
But letter writing these days can be described as an anachronism, just like the rotary dial phones.
Some letters, I must admit, either to or from me, were distinctively heart-warming. Others were freewheeling and funny, often weird, with unfamiliar words. This was when the dictionary would come in handy.
Quite a number of my letters had made-up stories, doodles, poems and even song lyrics. One or two would not only write within the lines but would fill the whole perimeter of a page as well. The ending of such letters would often have two letters of p.s. -– an abbreviation that stands for postscript or written after.
Reading those letters immersed me in being fully present with another person’s thoughts and feelings…all penned preciously on paper.
Terrific is the one word I would use to describe when receiving such a letter. Even feeling the texture of some letters or seeing the ink brought a sense of pleasure, especially reading words constructed by hand for your eyes only. Such penmanship was akin to a gift of love penned through thoughts and feelings expressed on paper.
Do I still have all those letters? Certainly! All neatly stacked in a box for storing apples, yes, real apples, and not that particular mobile phone or computer brand. I’m glad I had the sense to keep them, knowing how they are precious to me to this day.
The world today seems to be teeming with people who are overwhelmingly fixated on their smartphones; and connected to Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.
Can there be a return to the once glittering days of letter writing? The days of ballpoint and fountain pens, colourful cute stickers and flowered stationary sheets? Do humans still have the ability to truly enjoy letter writing again and not be overly focused on phone apps?
I don’t have the answer or I don’t want to know the answer!
As the jazz music pipes through my radio in the wee hours of the morning as I write this on a computer, I still believe in wanting to connect via pen and paper. Who knows, you might get a missive from me in the mail to keep our relationship alive.
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p.s. Someone did write a lengthy poem which says that letters, more than kisses, mingle the souls!
Trailerman, who writes from Lunas, Kedah, can be reached at tapessam@gmail.com
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