The Saucy Sisters Blog

Beverly's Diary Entry and Ribbon-Tied Letters

Last week as I was going through an old file cabinet, I found my diary from 1961. The red leather bound book has a broken lock, and the key was lost long ago. As I looked through the pages, I realized that most of them were left blank. Only occasionally did I write about the important events of my nine-year-old life.

But one entry from January 2nd caught my attention: “Mommy had a baby boy.” That was it. No talk of the feeling, fear and joy of having a baby brother. Did I feel those emotions that day or was it only later when Mommy and Daddy brought my brother Jeff home? Or did I not want to write about feelings and only share my important activity that day of watching TV or playing with my friend, Shelley? Or was this typical of what an adolescent girl of the 60s would divulge in her diary?

The diary may not have provided much insight, but it started me thinking about how our style of chronicling our lives has changed. Over the years, I’ve kept journals and have been pretty good about writing letters. And I’ve always loved getting them. (In fact, for years I’ve kept old letters tied in pink ribbon.)  I remember anxiously waiting for the mailman to arrive when I expected an important missive. And I made more than my share of trips to the post office for just the right stamp to put on a card for a friend.

Letter writing is becoming a lost art and I’m sad about its demise. One of my favorite books is A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey. The story is told by the main character, Bess Steed Garner, through her letters over the span of 60 years. In her letters she reveals her frailties, strengths, failures and victories in intimate detail.

Now, it seems that blogging has taken the place of letters. And it brings up so many questions for me. How is it different than sending letters to friends and family? Should I be any more forthcoming about my emotions than I was in my first diary? What happens to a blog entry (or tweet or email, for that matter) once it’s read? Poof, I’ve read you, now go away? And what about all those handwriting experts? Are they yet more obsolete workers standing in the unemployment line?

Last night I was discussing all these questions with Marc, the grounded mountain guy. Over wine, of course. He says it’s the feeling that counts in correspondence, not the paper the words are written on or the possession of ribbon-tied letters. He says if someone cares enough to send us an email, tweet us, write a blog or want to become our friend on Facebook, that it’s a wonderful thing. It’s sharing our lives. Contact with others is good. And, if it’s someone he doesn’t want to connect with, he’s glad he doesn’t have to lick a 44-cent stamp! Well said. But I have 100 Forever stamps.

I’m entering a new era with all this social networking. It’s not entirely comfortable yet. But I’m going to do my best. You may have guessed by now that this is my first blog. I won’t be giving up my handwritten cards and letters any time soon. I honestly don’t believe they’ll ever be out of date. But now that’s I’ve written Blog #1, I think I have the courage for #2.

By Saucy Sis2