Aging with Grace

There are friendships imprinted in our hearts that will never be diminished by time and distance.

Dodinsky

 It seems like a million years ago that I would receive long letters from my mother and grandmother. Even then, I wasn’t as committed to timely replies as they were. Still, I miss those letters. Communication, today, has been relegated  to Emails or Messages. Even phone calls are few and far between, unless they’re from a telemarketer. 

I am grateful for technology, such as Facebook, enabling me to reconnect with friends I haven’t kept I touch with. I can’t write this without saying there are many aspects of Facebook I am not happy with, but that’s a topic for another day. With all the advantages digital communication has brought comes the less personalized contact it creates. I am as guilty as everyone else of sending a message instead of calling or emailing instead of writing. It’s just so much easier.

 I do miss that personal contact, especially receiving cards and notes. My mother and grandmother not only wrote letters, they sent Christmas cards, birthday and anniversary cards, to everyone. I send Christmas cards and, occasionally, cards to mark other holidays. I try to be good about handwriting thank you notes. For me, it’s satisfying to pick up a good pen and write a few lines to someone I care about. 

However you decide to communicate, take a minute during the holidays to remember your friends and family. It’s a gift that only requires a little of your time and can mean a great deal.