Thursday, January 22, 2015

Have We Really Come This "Far"?

My son (and I am not mentioning a name, to protect the guilty...) wrote thank-you notes this week.
It might have taken some cajoling and a few more days than I wanted, but the job is now done.*ahem*
By "done", I mean the notes are written and the envelopes are addressed. And it was the latter of these two duties which seemed to cause the most brain-strain.

I told my un-named son where to find the addresses of the relatives to whom he was writing thank-you notes, and thought that was all I'd need to do.
Until I found an addressed envelope on the kitchen counter.
The name of the recipient was clearly written in the center of the envelope. But the address was written in the upper left corner(!). So I took the envelope to this un-named teenage child and explained what-I-thought-he-already-knew about addressing envelopes. And after some eye-rolling (His, not mine!) and questions like, "Can't I just draw an arrow?", this son of mine justified his lack of knowledge.
"Mom," he said (in a get-with-the-times tone of voice), "no one writes letters anymore. We text!"

And I thought, Really? Is letter-writing really a lost art?

Somebody, PLEASE, email me your address. I feel a great need to send something in the mail right now!

Karen

5 comments:

Kaira said...

836 Hazen St SE
Grand Rapids, Michigan
49507
:D

Mommy's coffee break blog said...

Ha! Oh my goodness, I love it, especially when he says, "can't I just draw an arrow." Too funny. I personally love cards, letters, writing (the kind of writing that goes on paper), so I hope that our letter-writing isn't a lost art!!! Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for technology too, as I likely wouldn't have met you without it. Maybe your son will appreciate letter-writing art when he gets older...but who knows..maybe he is right too!!eeks. By the way I will email you my address soon too (remember pen pals from our youth?) oops, sorry for my long response, I obviously couldn't help it.

Karen Hossink said...

Kaira - Got it. Watch your mailbox! :)

Mommy - I am grateful for technology, too. But his comment made me wonder...
And, yes, I remember pen pals. I had lots of them!
I'm still waiting for an email with your address. ;)

Sara K. said...

Hmm. That's a good question. Yes, I'd imagine letter-writing is a rather lost art... but I make my kids do it. They write thank you notes after every Christmas and every birthday. I have never received thank you notes from my nieces or nephews -- but I think it's the write, er RIGHT thing to do. :)

Karen Hossink said...

Sara - The WRITE thing. You're so punny! :)
It makes me feel kinda old to think of this childhood joy of mine being gone. I used to write letters back and forth with my grandpa. Always looked forward to the mailman's arrival at my mailbox!