Today has been marked on my calendar for a while. It is none other than the day that the Betty White stamps are available. I hustled to the post office and bought a conservative three sheets of them. Apparently someone who came in earlier than me bought five sheets. Please observe this selfie of me with the stamps as evidence of how excited I really was. I love Betty White. Really though, who doesn’t?
Here’s the thing though, there are plenty of other Golden Girls “memorabilia” that I could purchase in honor of her. In fact, these candy versions of Fernando’s ear that I recently bought are proof of that:
But I was so thrilled to get these stamps today because I actually still use stamps. To mail things. Through the actual postal service. Snail mail is an endangered species. I wouldn’t be surprised if kids today don’t know how to address an envelope. With how digital our communication is now, sending written correspondence that could take 3-5 business days to arrive seems to be an obsolete idea. My argument is that it shouldn’t. We need to bring back this practice!
Excuse me while I don my croaky, old lady voice and proclaim that “back in my day” the only way my best friend and I stayed in touch was by writing letters. True story. We had been best friends since the third grade and when my family moved away after the 6th grade, we absolutely stayed best friends because we wrote letters. Every now and then there was a long distance call, but it was sending a handwritten letter, with increasing thickness of the stack of pages as we got older and had more “life” stuff to talk about, that kept us close. Every so often we would send pictures with our letters. Back when you had to have film developed in order to see the pictures you took. We always made sure to get double prints, which was a gamble because inevitably some pictures weren’t in focus or were pointed at the ceiling and you still had to have double prints of those too because they were part of the roll. There was no social media or cell phones for instant sharing of pictures. We sent them through the mail with captions written on the back to explain what was going on in the picture or who the people were.
While my best friend and I no longer write letters like that, and now keep in touch digitally like everybody else, I still send notes through the mail. I have an extensive collection of note cards, postcards, and other stationary items. I also have a group of online knitting friends that I will send random notes to every so often. Additionally, every month I get a pack of stickers and a new postcard from Pipsticks.com, the website where I have a monthly sticker subscription. Sometimes the sticker theme will make me think of someone, so I’ll send them a random “this made me think of you” note card decorated with those stickers. I have also taken to sending cards to all of my husband’s sisters and nieces and nephews for random holidays. In October, they all got Halloween cards decorated with spooky stickers. In February, they all got Valentine’s cards. Christmas cards are a given, but I like sending cards out for those holidays that aren’t traditionally a card-giving holiday. FYI, I have a legit address book where I collect addresses for all of these people.
The feedback that I get from people is that they were touched, or delighted, or pleasantly surprised to get a card from me. I think it’s mainly because it’s not something that people do very much anymore so they aren’t expecting to receive something other than junk mail.
Like I said, it’s becoming an obsolete practice. But I love it! Maybe it’s because of my affinity for writing by hand…38 journals (almost 39) completely filled up! Maybe it’s because I’m crafty and really enjoy using glitter pens to write a message in a card, throw some stickers on it, and then seal it with washi tape. I also have a deep appreciation for office supplies, to include an unhealthy obsession with pens. Seriously, my collection of pens is massive. More than likely it’s all of that, plus the fact that I simply like letting people know that I’m thinking of them and I hope they are having a good day. It tickles me.
All of that is to say, I can’t send my surprise greetings without stamps. Which is why the Betty White stamps were such a thrill for me today. I truly think all of the Golden Girls need their own stamp so that I can choose which one to affix to a letter based on the personality of who I am sending to. Bea Arthur would get a lot of use given the number of teacher friends I have.
I encourage all of you to send at least one random postcard, note card, or letter to someone you know. Don’t tell them it’s coming, just let it show up in their mailbox and make them smile. Because I guarantee you, they will.
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