Leave a Message

I adored receiving letters. They were gifts that would arrive for no apparent reason other than the fact someone was thinking of you. As a girl, I’d pour over every word trying to determine whether there were any hidden meanings. I’d then carefully craft my reply – sometimes soaking the paper in tea and then burning the edges of the paper to make it look antique, other times putting a red wax seal on the envelope. The type of stationary and envelopes I used depended on the formality of the reply, age or gender of recipient or my mood for the day.

When those days passed and letter writing became too much effort for mankind, I found that magazines and catalogs were an OK, although not as exciting, substitute for mail. Magazines and catalog subscriptions were more a gift I sent myself, but it was at least more exciting than a bill.

Now I’m glad to say that I’m hearing from people all over the world.

E-mail keeps me in touch with current and former co-workers, as I learn which projects are due or which restaurant will be this month’s meeting place, respectively. LinkedIn lets me know where my former co-workers are employed. Facebook fills me in on to what games my long ago classmates are playing and which relatives are visiting the doctor again.

Now that I have an iPhone, messaging is keeping me in touch with my brother, who lets me know when he’s stuck at an airport bored out of his mind. My husband knows I’m as close as a phone call and leaves me messages asking me to stop by the store on the way home or tell him what I’d like for dinner.

The only drawback to all this wonderful reaching out is that I don’t feel as though I learn as much about people. When I do actually talk to people in person and they ask me about a mutual acquaintance, I’m amazed how little I do know.

“Well, she got hold of me on LinkedIn, but she didn’t answer questions about her job, and her title was vague. But she sounded upbeat!”

A lot of the time, if you ask more than one question, the responder only answers one. Lack of time, perhaps?

Still, it beats not knowing how your loved ones and not so loved ones are more or less doing.

I, however, am still into long messages. You won’t get any burnt edges or wax seals on my replies, but my heart will still be in my answer.

I’ll probably even answer more than one of your questions.