Question of the day

So do you keep old correspondences? I mean like real, snail mail letters from friends and family? Do you pack them up and move them with the rest of your stuff?

I do. I've gotten a very good pitching arm since we had to pack up every stinkin' semester at Cov, but the letters I can't quite get rid of. I'm always thrilled to go back and read them occasionally. I still have letters from high school! Especially as snail mail has gotten more and more rare, I like the few notes and cards I have gotten; that one page encapsulating so much of the person's personality, gleaming through the words that she herself has written (I'll admit, except for when Chris and I were long-distance dating and the very rare note from my dad, all my correspondents are female).

It's notes like these that I just can't bear to throw away:

Received from former high school English teacher, former dorm mother (or grandmother?), close family friend on 25 March 2003:

Dear Jeannette, Thanks for all your emails. I read them with interest...[blah, blah, newsy bits, etc.]...When I read your letter, I immediately thought I should correct all the uses of apostrophes. I was going to ask you first. Now as I re-read it, it doesn't seems so bad. As your old teacher, I felt responsible.... etc.

Guess my parents got their money's worth outta my high school education. My English teacher, looking out for me, years after I had graduated from college even! It's priceless. How can I just throw away something like this!?

Well, I'm not.