I still enjoy getting a personal letter or greeting card in the mail, don’t you? Sadly, it seems like letter writing is a lost art. With today’s technology, we may tap in a quick text message or at best, type up an email. Some of us who have smart phones may just dictate our message and hit the send button. Whichever way you choose, it’s efficient but impersonal, no matter how many emoticons you sprinkle into your text.
There’s something about holding in our hand, a handwritten letter from someone we have an emotional attachment to, their words transporting us to a different place or time. Letters close the miles and the span of time between the sender and the recipient.
I think back to the days when the only connection between our military servicemen and their loved ones was by way of a letter. Those pieces of mail became treasured mementos that could be read and re-read until the next mail call. I used to sing a very sad song, made famous by Ernest Tubb, called “The Soldier’s Last Letter.” “When the postman delivered a letter, it filled her dear heart full of joy but she didn’t know ‘til she read the inside, it was the last one from her darling boy.” There were many songs that were born during WWII, songs that reveal the emotional aspect of having a loved one far away, accompanied by the fear that they may never return alive. How many of you have held onto a treasured letter from a serviceman or woman?
As I looked for songs having to do with letters on the Bluegrass Lyrics Site, it seems that there wasn’t a happy song in the bunch. That’s Bluegrass. All of them had to do with lost love, regret or death. “There’s a little rosewood casket resting on a marble stand, with a packet of old love letters, written by my true loves hand.” The words were from the lips of a person whose deathbed request is for someone to read her some old love letters.
Old love letters seem to be a common theme in many of the songs I found. “Today, I burned your old love letters, I burned them gently one by one. As I’d light the flame I’d read it, for I could see what you had done.” Of course there is the Bob Wills classic, “Faded Love,” “As I look at the letters that you wrote to me, it’s you that I am thinking of, as I read the lines that to me were so sweet, I remember our faded love.” “A few old love letters, with their edges all brown…” is a line from the Hazel Dickens song, “A Few Old Memories.”
Do people still write love letters? Will there be any treasured mementos in a little rosewood casket, or is that a thing of the past? In the case of a love gone wrong, there may never be the closure and satisfaction that may come from the burning of old love letters. Somehow, deleting an email wouldn’t have the same effect. You would always have an inkling that those sentimental offerings are still floating around out in cyberspace.
I recently spent some time going through some old file boxes. I came across some letters from my mother who has been gone for nearly twenty-five years. My mom used to sprinkle little cartoon drawings within some of her notes to add humor to whatever story she was relating in her letters. I saved many letters from her over the years and I’m so glad I did. I will save these for my kids and grandkids because I think they will learn more about her from what she wrote than just the stories they’ve heard about her.
In addition to those letters, I have saved special greeting cards from friends and family over the years. Many of these people have passed away years ago, which makes the memento even more special. I even have the first card that my husband sent me dating back to 1961.
It’s true, a letter can never take the place of having our beloved friends and family at arms reach, as attested to in a couple songs I know; “Rambling Letters” and “Letters Have No Arms,” but they are a tangible connection that can convey our love and concern like no text message can.
I recently got an email from Bob Thomas, he and his wife had gone to visit our friend Don Denison at the Care Facility where he is staying in San Andreas. Bob happened to be present when some mail was brought in to Don. He said that his face lit up and he was elated to receive some “Get Well” cards and notes from some of his CBA family. It is such a small gesture that can mean so much to a person who is going through a personal struggle. If you would like to send Don a note, his address is: Don Denison, Mark Twain Convalescent Hospital, 900 Mountain Ranch Road, San Andreas, CA 95249.
I’m sorry I missed the Fall Camp-Out but we had a very special anniversary celebration to attend. Please join me in congratulating CBA members, Jesse and Dolores House on their 60th wedding anniversary. God bless.
