It is something more important. It is a thank you note. And a note of encouragement.
It is a thank you to @arjantupan for sending me a handwritten thank you note. Not the thank you – it really was unnecessary. But for handwriting it.
In this age of technology mediated communication, where sending out messages is as easy as pushing a button, it was so nice to know that someone had taken the trouble of choosing a card, writing a message by hand and heading out to the post office to send it.
It’s like having a home made meal, instead of picking up fast food [note to self: I need to go easy on the food comparisons – yesterday, I managed to compare @markschaefer to a sausage!]
That leads me to the encouragement. I would like others to feel the same.
I went out today and bought a card to send to someone in the US.
Sure, it will take longer for the recipient to know how much I appreciated something that he did. But that’s OK.
Can you do the same? Please.
Ana Canhoto 
Love it – and interestingly, I bought some postcards in Barcelona recently, with the intention of sending them out. One thing I love about living in England is the card culture – which my family in Portugal also really appreciate. For the first time ever, I got a card on the post from my parents and sisters, and loved it!!
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I agree that the hand composition and delivery of a personal message, in fact the real (as opposed to computer-generated fake) tailoring of messages in general, seems surplus to requirement for most people and most organisations. I recently travelled to Honh Kong and all my younger daughter asked for was a hand-written postcard. So perhaps not all is lost. The task of searching for an image and putting pen to paper really made me think about what I wanted to see, and what I wanted to endure.The irony is, I suppose, that without the electronic channels we are all looking at this post on, the whole topic would not be being discussed…!Chris
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Haha, I’m happy you like it, Ana! It really was a nice way of thanking you for your support. I was a bit doubting about using a fountain pen, though, and you can see it has come in contact with some rain. But maybe that adds to the charm…Chris, you make a very interesting point. I have to say that it is thanks to our electronic channels that I know so many more interesting people, have more ways of keeping in touch with my family and friends now that I live abroad, and… that sending a simple handwritten postcards is now something special.Have a great weekend, all.
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Postcards… family… you gave me an idea, Mrs O 🙂
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You are right, Chris. Even though the handwritten message will probably travel less widely than the one on the computer (too easy to forward) and can be permanently destroyed, it does require more thought and planning.PS -very sweet that your daughter asked for a handwritten postcard.
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I think it is lovely that you received this hand written note. It is so sad that fewer and fewer people are writing postcards and letters to people.
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Thank you, Cathy. I thought it was lovely, too… and I am now copying the practice. Though, as Chris said, the reason I was so chuffed may be because we no longer received them…Do you send lots of cards yourself? One thing I found with blogs and social networks is that they often work as communication channels with people you might, otherwise, send direct messages to – be it by e-mail or by card.
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