I didn't actually begin the month realizing it was National Letter Writing month, I started the end of March and it flowed into April. I was posting my envelope drawings on Instagram and one of my friends told me it was National Letter Writing Month. You know me! That's all it took, an entire month of the year dedicated to snail mail! I'm in!
I've liked to give and receive letters since I was young. I remember my pen pal from Austria before internet and social media was even a thing. I was at our local Hallmark card store and they had a pen pal exchange. I joined and got to know a girl almost just like me from Austria. We wrote up until I got married and then we somehow lost touch. I've tried to find her, even wrote about her, here on this blog. I've never been able to find her but it was the first serious start to my pen pal love.
This month I had an unusual amount of thank you notes to write. Randomly I would receive mail that would include a small gift and then that would prompt me to write a thank you note. Remember my post card pen pal whom I met through my blog when she found me in Bella Grace? She sent me a packet of Forget Me Nots and that gave me the idea for her drawing and note. I have also planted those seeds and they are beginning to grow! Mancub has a friend who had the most beautiful necklace on and when I asked her about it she said her aunt made it. She offered to have her aunt make me one too! I paid her because I believe artists should be paid for their talents and she made me the most adorable heart shaped pendant. A thank you note was in order. Even when I say thank you in person sometimes I still want to write a thank you note. It's a dying art you know. I don't want it to die so I keep on writing them.
You don't have to get a gift to write a thank you note. You can write a note so someone special and tell them how much they mean. In the midst of my handwriting month and because I was posting pictures of my drawings a really good friend of mine did just that, she sent me a handwritten card just telling me how much our friendship meant to her. I've just noticed when you put it out there you seem to get it back. Try it.
Then there have been a few instances where someone will admire one of my silly doodles and ask if I might draw them a letter. I love when people are bold enough to ask. I think some people are afraid to ask because they think it might be rude, but it's never rude, it's more like a compliment and I learn in turn to ask for things because they are not afraid to ask me. I say yes of course and then I think of something specific to them and draw them a note.
Lastly there are times when the notes are not as fun to write because someone needs encouragement or something really sad happened in their life. Those letters are more rough to write but I also think they are important because when sad things happen it's nice to be thought of too.
Happy National Letter Writing Month. Guess what? Next month I will be calling it FILM month. My sweet cousin gave me a baggie full of film to shoot. It's currently hanging out in our refrigerator and freaking out Motorcycle man. He thinks it's weird.