I am so grateful.
I am so grateful for all the communication.
I am loving the internet and all my blog subscriptions.
I am loving quick glimpses into people’s activities and how easy it is to share a new interest and a new page.
I love how easy it is to track down information, schedule home repair estimates and get-togethers.
However, I am also thinking about electricity.
I am remembering communication through writing letters.
I grew up writing a weekly letter to each set of grandparents, so I had their addresses memorized.
I learned how to write, how to construct sentences, and how to create paragraphs to transition to other topics.
And my grandparents took to time to read my letters. Since they lived out-of-state, it was a regular activity for both of us.
And it took time.
Real time.
Real hands-on time with regular guidance from my parents on topics, vocabulary, sentence structure.
A real blessing all around.
With limited electricity, long distance phone calls were a luxury. Minutes were sacred and costly. There was preparation in my house for such calls, with topics decided and time allotted for each family member. A long distance call was a precious shared moment. It was possible to memorize the phone number (singular) of everyone’s family,(one number per family).
These communications were deeper, more precious.
They were more intimate and thoughtful.
I love being able to contact everyone by phone and by texting, but I certainly don’t have all those phone numbers memorized!
I am just taking a moment to appreciate the communication and what it represents in both frameworks.
To celebrate, I might just look up everyone’s address and write a letter!
© 2012 Kathryn Hardage
www.InspiredPrctices.com
