A Lost Art

So, I am currently reading a book by Rebecca Ann Collins called The Women of Pemberley. Since it is not written by Jane Austen, it cannot be considered a sequel, but, it is "A Companion Volume", and is the second of ten similar books. I HIGHLY recommend it to any Jane Austen fan. I have loved it!

Anyway, a few days ago as I was flying home from Utah, I finally had a spare moment to read avidly, as I so delight in doing. I finally got a little tired, but, as I began to drift off to sleep, my thoughts began to wander. In these books, much of the story is told through letters, and I thought about letter-writing and how it has become quite a lost art. No one writes letters anymore. Sure, there's the occasional card at a given occasion, and some may even argue that we now have e-mail. But the etiquette is not the same, and I would argue that e-mails don't always seem as genuine. As I thought about letter writing, I got into a letter-writing mood.

For the first time since I've had friends on missions, I wanted to write, and not just write, to write a letter. It was great! :) Only one of my friends was the lucky recipient, but, the letter was genuinely heartfelt and sincere. And while I did send it via e-mail, I still felt it was a higher caliber than just a regular e-mail, if not particularly formal. It must have done the trick, as I got a near immediate response from a friend I haven't heard from in weeks.

Letter writing, I feel, is an art worth reviving. :)