I frequent estate sales. With my mom. She and I always go home with completely different things from one another. She leaves with normal things , and me, you can't ever tell WHAT I'll come home with --- old books, lace, fabric, old photos, used and new art supplies --- you know, things I can use in my art!! I love estate sales.
Well, one day my mom and I were in the open backyard of one, when I spotted a trash can with LOADS of old letters. Just thrown away!!! I grabbed as many as I could and rushed to the car. When I got home I spread all the letters out in front of me, amazed at the moments in theses peoples' lives that were just thrown away. I felt a little guilty reading all this personal mail, but I loved it too. They were wonderful!!! Such beautiful lettering and just LOOK at the decorated envelope in the picture above (you can click on the pic to make it larger)!
It made me sad because this is a lost art. I remember letters and notes being very important to me. I loved writing notes to my friends in junior high, gushing about my crush at the moment. And remember folding them in all kinds of ways?! Too fun. And I loved getting them!! When my friends would leave for the summer, we would exchange letters and I'd get so excited when I saw a letter in the mailbox just for me! And secret diaries! Remember?! I was always experimenting with different lettering and working on my signature. Now you just select a font. Sigh. When my boyfriend left for college in a different state, we exchanged lots of love letters. Every letter I found in my mailbox from him sent my heart aflutter. And waiting for them just added to the excitement. Now we can send someone a letter in a different country and, with just a push of a button, it is sent immediately.
Don't get me wrong; I love technology and its conveniences. I just really miss letters. I'm glad I rescued these letters from the trash. To me, they're truly treasures.
