Is It Me...?

I'm sure many of you aren't surprised my letter writing project nearly dwindled after the first letter. But, I bet you'll be surprised to learn it's not because I don't have ideas (I know, I'm a blabber mouth), but because of my terrible handwriting. As I type this post, my fingers flow over the keyboard (at least 70 WPM), while maintaining pace with the plethora of thoughts running through my brain). However, actually sitting down with a pen (don't kill me, I prefer pencil) and writing the letters is becoming challenging.

The first letter I sent was to MSgt Rieper. I wrote, erased, wrote, erased, threw papers away again, again, again. It took me two weeks to finally finish a one-page letter just to introduce myself and ask about him. Why is that? Have we become a society so dependent on typing or texting our thoughts we literally forget how to write the letters of the alphabet? Of course, I'm sure my elementary school teachers can attest to my extremely poor penmanship, but I don't recall it being worse than my two-year-old. And, I don't have any excuses. My grandfather and aunt have your typical medical professional handwriting, but they were saving lives or eyeballs, perfect excuses. I, on the other hand, spend my days working on a computer and am afraid I've forgotten how to write. Hey, at least I know what pen and paper look like.

So, my task for the next week is fight through the starting overs and get these letters out to my Aunt Ellen (she needs some smiles from her grand niece) and to my dear friend Mary (who I'm trying to avoid e-mailing, although I have many questions about our upcoming trip).

New Year's Resolution

How often do we promise ourselves we will commit to a New Year's resolution?  Each year, I try to examine myself and pick something I would really like to improve.  One year, I decided to ensure I prayed every morning/night, only to disappoint myself when I fell asleep one night very early in the new year.  Another year, I promised myself I would commit time each day to practicing the piano, but then family, work, school, and every other excuse I could come up with broke the commitment.  So, why do we spend time promising ourselves we will change one thing, promise to commit each day to honoring the commitment, only to disappoint ourselves when we fail miserably a week later?  We believe we desperately have things to change in our lives and commit to making such changes on a specified date.  Should we ignore the "I will start on January 1st" thoughts and just do it?

Ironically, this blog is an effort for me to commit myself to yet another resolution, writing letters.  But, unlike a diet in which there is really no success unless you simply change your lifestyle, I hope to make this a lifelong commitment.  Have you considered how much we have become dependent on technology?  Today, I have an IPhone from which I regularly check e-mail, FB, texts, and the periodic phone call.  At first, I thought how wonderful technology is to foster communication.  But, is it?  Think about it, our communication has dwindled to technical jargon like brb, lol, i <3 u; mundane communications like what're u doing, look at this funny pic i took; and even absurd status posts like sitting on the porch, going to the grocery, ate a cookie.

When I was a kid, I had a great friendship with a girl named Lori.  We spent a lot of time together gabbing, playing outside, and every other thing a kid does in their adolescent years.  But, sadly, Lori moved away.  She and I made a commitment to maintain our friendship, albeit from a distance.  We spent at least a full summer writing letters back and forth.  But, I wonder, if we were kids in this instant communication age, would we have shared such wonderful words with each other?  I'm afraid not.

So, today, I commit myself to exploring the ability to maintain pen pals via the snail mail.  I have chosen three people with whom to communicate via the US Postal Service: a family member, my Aunt Ellen; a friend, Mary; and a stranger, MSgt Rieper.

Wish me luck!!!