I recently found this letter from Amy and thought you could empathize. I don't recall how old she was when this was written but I do remember offering to help her pack and asking if she needed a sandwich for the road. It was one of those classic family moments.

Although it very rarely happens anymore, I love getting letters in the mail. Emails, Facebook, texting or IM doesn't quite replace getting a letter from someone. A real letter is very rare these days and getting even more so. I treasure the letters I got from Marilyn and re-read them often. It is amazing that I learn something new from them each time I open them even though they are just about as old as Ryan is! Given how many times I have re-read them in the last 17 years, that's alot of new stuff to get out of old letters!

Even though tweeting doesn't quite fulfill that same satisfaction as a letter in the mailbox with your name on it, I recognize this is the way of the world today. I have saved emails from my mother detailing some of her everyday events and I treasure those as much as Marilyn's handwritten letters. But there is something about handwriting that connects you to the writer's personality -- even a signature can give provide that connection sometimes.

I can't quite accept that someday an electronic file will generate the same kind of wistful memories as a letter just like this one.