Monday, November 06, 2006

Letters at Home


Today there are many women and men separated for various reasons for long periods of time. Whether it be a job that takes men away or the military, there is a need to write letters of value to these men. Keep the letters sympathetic towards their plight, but avoid too much depressing communication on your part. Life is difficult enough for the men who are away from their families without perpetuating problems through the mail. Letters to men away from home will be a part of history one day. Think about how you would like such letters to be viewed by people in another era, if they are saved. If you can, be known as someone who has the confidence to lift up the fallen, rather than write things that create more conflict.

Letters mean a lot when people are away from home, and even though it is easier now to email or make cell phone calls, letters create a permanent record that can be read and re-read, giving comfort each time. Sending your best compliments will be appreciated far more than you know at the time.

Right now I am reading my parents' letters and getting a lot of information from them for a book about their lives. If they had not taken the time to write, I would not have this valuable resource. I know that a lot of people wanted me to write about homemaking or some such thing, but I think inside this book (if I ever finish it) you are going to see something about life that was simple and sweet and oh, so happy, that seems to be lost these days.

One never knows how much a letter really means, especially if it has information in it about how they are living their lives, what they do daily, who their friends are, and what their greatest concerns are. Modern history sometimes does not accurately portray life, but letters tell the real story!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting. My husband and I aren't often apart, and never for more than 48 hours (I go with him if he has to travel for a while), so writing letters in his absence is a little hard.

However, I'd been thinking about writing letters to him anyway. We did that a little while we courted, and I'm considering tucking the occasional note into his lunches...

Mrs. Bartlett