January 20, 2015

Dear Friends,

Inspired by Nina Sankovitch’s book Signed, Sealed, Delivered:  Celebrating the Joys of Letter Writing, I set an intention in early January to write four letters a month.  I imagined I would write them on Sundays, my “day-away” from the computer.  However, it hasn’t happened that way. In the first two weeks of January, I wrote nine letters.  I’ll post the tenth one today.

Sitting at the kitchen table in the early morning hours drinking my “Sherry tea” of hot water and lemon, I notice an impulse to write a particular person.  Making my way to the stationery box, I pull a few sheer sheets of writing paper and sit down to begin.

Moving the pen across the page connects me, and eventually the letter’s reader to what’s alive in my heart at the time.  The birds chirping on the wire, the light slowly spilling into the room. Each letter reflects a present moment glimpse into what I am holding dear, laughing over or dancing with at the time of its writing.

Received your wonderful letter today . . . it was so full that I will reread it several times,” a friend emailed.  “Do my letters race?  Are they chock-full and messy?” I muse.  I don’t know.  I only know how much I savor folding the thin sheets and placing them carefully in the envelope. How much pleasure I take in holding the person in my mind’s eye as I write their address.  The fun of pressing a commemorative stamp neatly in the corner.  The merry walk to the Post Office on Main.

One intention apparently leads to another, so now I’ve set an intention that once a month, I’ll post a letter to all of you here.  Just to see what happens!

Wishing you all winter’s simple joys and heartfelt connections,

Sherry