Have you ever thought about why you gave something up? Why you stop doing something you used to do. Maybe it's something that you did infrequently, but still enjoyed. During college I ski raced at the club level. Did alright, didn't win, but thoroughly enjoyed the time. And I became a better skier. After marrying and having children and a job and coaching, the skiing stopped. Not a bad thing, just something that happened.
In the time Sam has been away, he has written 20 letters or so. We all have written back and a new dynamic has taken place in our family. All without technology, or better, all because technology has been taken away.
Each day about the middle of the afternoon a tension starts building in the house. It's one of those good tensions that really is an anticipation. Someone asks, then another person asks, then another goes outside to look and finally it happens. The mail arrives.
Is there a letter? No, and disappointment happens. Yes, and a smile. Yes--two letters, and the smile ends with a giggle.
Sam is quiet, but when he talks he is animated and expressive. He's not the type to take over a room with his talk, just the one you should listen to and enjoy. His letters are another expression of this. He tells of events in compact meaningful extensions of himself. It has been a joy to be a part of this.
This anti-tech communication has also forced us to rekindle our lost letterwriting. I've never been one to write many letters, but this has given me the desire. It has given me an insight into another time and other eras. When reading Sam's letters I sometimes imagine the still pictures and hear the voices of a Ken Burn's film. I am connected to my fellow humans. Most of all, as I read, I am reminded that despite me, Sam is a wonderful man and I miss him.
Why? Because we can't use email and cellphones. Maybe we should dropkick them to the bottom of the lake.
*Lake Tahoe is the 2nd deepest lake in the U.S. at 1645 feet. So cold that it is clear for what seems like forever to the bottom. What is the deepest lake in the U.S.?
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3 comments:
Sometimes being in the army is a good thing, huh?! I have a shoebox of all the letters Sid and I exchanged while he was in Bosnia. I pull them out occasionally and am swept up in the emotion almost immediately. I remember how sslllooowww the army mail ran, how desperately in love we were (he was deployed right after we got engaged), how he described the Bosnian terrain and people, how unsettled he was riding the train into the "zone" with supplies, how the guys in his squad rotated cooking duties and tried to outdo each other every night. I'm grateful to have a written record of that time that we can share with our children. I've let the children decorate a shoebox to hold their letters from Sid while he's in Iraq. We'll probably be reading and re-reading them a lot! Sorry to have taken up so much comment space...there's just something so intimate and meaningful about hand-written letters from loved ones.
Well, written and beautifully said. We need to take pause more often and savor those things from yesteryer lest they be forgotten forever. Even as little as 20 years ago I used to look forward to "mail call" in anticipation of a letter. Now the daily mail is a chore and usually a task of avoidance (more bills?)
BTW, Crater Lake in Oregon is the deepest lake in the United States at 1,932 feet (589 meters).
THIS is why Nancy is my very best friend!!!
Thanks (again) Julie for your touching comment.
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