Lately I have been reading the book What Would Audrey Do? by Pamela Keogh. It is a charming book that gives an in-depth look at the life of one of the world's most elegant and lovely ladies. As I was reading, I came across a section called "THE ART OF THE PERSONAL LETTER". It occurred to me that few people write letters anymore. I could name on one hand the number of people in my personal life who still correspond with letters. It is fast becoming a lost art. The world we live in today communicates through instant messages, text messages, e-mails, Facebook comments, MySpace messages...
With everything being typed, even cursive writing is becoming obsolete. While some things need to pass with the changing times, I do not believe letter writing should be one of them.
In studying the finer points of star behavior, it seems clear that the well-timed note is what separates the truly well brought up from the arrivistes. Socialite Babe Paley (like Princess Diana and Jackie O) sat down and wrote her bread and butter notes the night she came home from a dinner party or event. George H. W. Bush was famous for typing notes himself (on a typewriter, not a computer) to practically everyone he met, and this garnered him a heck of a lot of goodwill across the political spectrum. Thankfully for us, Audrey was a great letter writer...if AH could take the time to write, surely you can, too. (Pamela Keogh)
The book Puttin' on the GRITS: A Guide to Southern Entertaining by Deborah Ford also has something to say about letter writing and thank-you notes:
Thank-you notes let those around us know how much we appreciate them. A good thank-you note should be hand-written, and it would be on a decent grade of paper, not notebook paper. You don't have to use the best stationery available, but you should use something that shows that you've taken some care. (Deborah Ford)
I must confess that the last of our baby shower thank-you notes just went out, but better late than never with a new baby in the house. Lydia is 3 1/2 months old and the baby announcements just found their way from my stationery basket to the mailbox. Yes, I have a stationery basket, and I am going to vow to use it more. It contains a file for letters I want to keep, my address book (which I am still updating), note cards, stationery, pens, a greeting card organizer, and everything I need to send out lovely letters to family and friends.
Inspired to write more letters, I started searching for some beautiful stationary. Here were my favorites:
Kate Spade
Just because people aren't writing letters as much nowadays doesn't mean that after thousands of years of tradition letter writing has become obsolete. It just means that writing and receiving letters has become even more SPECIAL!
Happy letter writing!
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