Felicity. That is a word I learned from Jane Austen. It is one of her favorites and means "happiness." Felicity is on my mind because I have been reading Austen and writing letters. Today as I sat down to write I was struck with the comfort I find in penning a letter. This is not a novel feeling or an unexpected one; I was just especially aware of it today. Perhaps the small stack of respond-to-letters encouraged in me this sense of comfort (those large stacks can seem so daunting). Comfort and felicity come not only through writing letters but also through reading them. Because of this, I particularly like carrying letters with me when I anticipate having to wait somewhere such as the dentist's office or the Department of Motor Vehicles. Pulling out a letter and reading it in public makes any present discomfort fade as the letter's civility provides a hedge against my surroundings. How better to pass an hour at the DMV than in silent conversation with a friend? Only in a letter can I find both solitude and friendship; both silence and conversation. What felicitous comfort is to be found in a letter.
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Now here is something completely unexpected. I got a letter in a bottle! I never would have thought to send a letter this way. Thanks, Jan! How did you even think of this? I will use this pen, definitely, and when the cartridge is empty I will refill it with Diamine Majestic Blue. As you maybe can tell from the picture, the nib is very fine and Majestic Blue is one of those inks that does not lose color when used in a fine nib. It is also a lovely ink with which to write letters. I know I will get a lot of enjoyment out of this pen and I have already given it a fair measure of sentimental value. Thank you, Jan!
Sometime last week I wrote five letters in a day. I later reflected about each of the people I had written to and the relationship I have with each one. Were they collected in a room only two of them would have something in common and that is because they are mother and daughter. Now that I think of it, it might be great fun to gather random friends for a conversation. I wonder what I might learn about each as they get to know each other. But I digress.
Of my five letter recipients, one I do not personally know. She is a pen pal I collected over at the Fountain Pen Network. I may not know her, as we have never personally met, but through her letters I like her. My second recipient is a pen pal I actually know. We met years ago and since a recent crossing of paths we have seen each other regularly. I have very much enjoyed developing a friendship with her and lately letter writing has aided that development. Recipient number three...well he is a body I never thought I would write to. In fact, he is a body I have thought very little about at all. He is something of a long lost uncle, not lost in the strict sense of lost, as the family could have contacted him if we wanted to, but lost, rather, through a family rift. Unfortunately, for years now he has been estranged from the family through every fault and effort of his own. I was just a kid when his shenanigans rent the family fabric and though the other aunts and uncles have quite sore feelings toward him even to this day, I never harbored hard feelings. I have kept in touch with his daughter over the years and when I learned of his wife's passing I knew it was time to write a letter. The letter was short and sympathetic to his loss...just the polite sort of letter one sends under such circumstances, but it was contact. I do not know what will come of it but I have hopes that now that he has lost his partner in crime he will seek reconciliation with his family. I do not know if I hope too much but I do know that because I made the effort of a letter I will not look back one day and wonder, "What if?" The last two recipients are mother and daughter. Like recipient number two, recipient number four is a friend I met years ago. For the last six years we have seen each other annually at family camp where I enjoy our visits and watching her daughter grow. At the last camp we decided we would write letters to each other as we both appreciate the nearly lost art. In her last letter she told me that her seven year old daughter keeps my letters saying they are like letters from the Queen. Maybe the sealing wax elevates my letters to royal status. Naturally, I could not resist writing to my young friend so that she could have her very own "letter from the Queen." I used my nicest cursive which she probably will not be able to read yet because I did not want her letter to be any less queenly than her mother's. I mailed it in a cheery envelope I made just for her complete with butterfly liner and sealing wax. I hope she enjoys it just as much as she enjoys her mother's letters. I also hope that she will learn the joy of letter writing and that when she is grown she will continue the tradition with friends of her own. ![]() I was doing housework when my daughter came in with the day's mail. Knowing my mail priorities, she brought the letter to me immediately. Always ready to drop what I'm doing to read a letter (and always ready to drop housework for any reason ) I put down my feather duster and opened the blue envelope. It was sealed with a sparkly dolphin sticker, a sign of what was to come. The letter was written on blue, nautically themed paper that gave me a pleasant feeling just to look at. The real treat, of course, was the content of the letter. The sender is a penpal who writes regularly. What makes this correspondence relationship especially enjoyable is that I actually get to see her once or twice a week. She knows my love of stationery and always writes her letters on pretty, cute, or otherwise interesting paper. I consider this to be thoughtfulness on her part. Now to set aside more housework and write a letter! |
Letter Matters
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