I am finally settling down in Italy and got around to sending out postcards to friends and family back in the United States. I have languished for a long time, not having the proper addresses and not being able to find nice postcards…but I have overcome those obstacles and sent out a whole stack today. Yes, the post people stared a bit…
I opted for watercolor type postcards and vintage posters. I much prefer that style than the regular photography, maybe because I still want to print my own photography postcards one of these days and can’t bring myself to buy them. As I wrote my little notes on the postcards, I got to thinking about this old style of correspondence. Obviously, you have to keep your note pretty concise as there isn’t much room on a postcard, even if you buy the large size. I was thinking it might be the parallel to Twitter that we all use so much now online. Short snippets and updates…even though a postcard only goes to one place. I guess it is more personal that way and means a lot more to the person you send it to.
If you don’t know where to start, just send a quick “Hello there! How are you doing?” note to your correspondences. It will surely spur on conversation and help you reconnect with old friends. Or you can also participate on a great site I found called Postcrossing. It is a project started to help people all over the world trade postcards. If you send a postcard, you’ll get one back. I think it is the cutest project that really does bring back the joy of real mail and old fashioned written correspondence. Definitely check it out and get back to paper!
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