keeping in touch

The  ‘ever loosening definition of a friend’  has certainly changed with the evolution of the internet.  I’m not quite sure how comfortable I am with Facebook and ‘blogs’ and other means of connection via the ease of the internet.  Although I DO like the ease.  It is immediate.  It is accessible.  It is easy.  And I’ve been having a lot of fun with my Silly Blog.

Because of the internet, I’ve found some dear friends with whom I lost contact.  I’ve re-connected with folks I didn’t keep in touch with that often (and have missed).  I’ve found classmates and friends who gifted me in many ways and I’m thankful to once again be corresponding with and learning anew about them.

I admit that in the long-ago, when I wrote real letters (well, these letters were not in my illegible handwriting – but typed on my Mother’s Remington  and later a Royal typewriter which was then traded for an Underwood – my gosh!  I miss those typewriters!);  it was simple to correspond in this manner.

Does that sound silly?  Well, it might – but believe me when I say that to hold in one’s hands a piece of paper and read thoughts and news and  encouragement and sadness and requests is somewhat different from the shorthand of electronic mail.

I don’t understand the abbreviations and acronyms of the internet (I recently asked a nephew what LOL meant!  Lox on Lettuce? I asked; he patiently  – with exasperation I’m sure, replied that LOL meant ‘laughing out loud’).

With  handwritten letters, we wrote full words in full sentences.  Goodness Gracious!

A dear  cousin [Evelyn by name – who is astonishingly beautiful in body and spirit] still sends an occasional note written in her lovely handwriting and I treasure these notes.  Of course, she would be as eloquent if she sent e-mails, but her handwriting causes me to see her in some way.  I treasure her letters and notes.

The “ever loosening definition of friend”  has become tighter because of the ability to connect by just walking into my library/computer room and punching a few keys to Google a name – and Voilà!  I’ve re-connected with someone.  THAT I really appreciate.

So, as I think about letters written in a Dear One’s very own hand – letters and cards  which are retrieved from my mailbox and opened at my kitchen table (which is where the mail seems to accumulate) and read aloud to Hubby or silently as I smilingly visualize the writer – I am also very thankful for the internet.

And very thankful for friends.