Pen Pals

When was the last time you actually wrote something, like with a pen and a paper? When I was teaching, my hand was maxed out with all the writing. I remember correcting tests and counting answers wrong because I couldn't read the student's writing, and it wasn't even in cursive. Now some schools aren't even teaching cursive writing. With technology taking the place of writing, it forces me to find other ways.

A few months ago I noticed my handwriting when I made out my grocery list. It was terrible, and it felt strange to even hold a pencil. That's when I had to think about the last time I wrote something. It had been a couple of weeks. I thought that was a sad state of affairs, so my solution was to be pen pals.

My siblings along with my nieces and nephews live around the country Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Colorado and Washington. My niece started writing letters to us, and then my nephew joined in. Now it's quite an event when we get those letters in the mail. So even though we don't get to see each other, we write.

There are a lot of easier ways to communicate, but that's the point of writing. You are ignoring technology and purposefully writing a letter. It takes more effort. And email or phone pals just doesn't have the same ring to it. It's also really nice to see their writing. It definitely says something about them.

The boys are just learning to write, and at this stage it's important to exercise their hands and build those muscles. So they spend a lot of time with Play Doh and coloring. They write their names on all their art work, which then is put in the letters.

My sons give their art work out as their letters and cards. It's so easy for them, so why have grown-ups made it so hard to do. Writing is useful, it shows you care. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone or received one?