Hello Treat-A-Weekers,

So, post move I have been going through boxes and boxes of memorabilia and old keepsakes that I haven’t really looked at in decades. Pictures, books, mixed tapes and letters have all been reviewed in an effort to decide what to keep or purge.  Of all the things that I am happiest I saved, it’s the letters.  Do you remember what is was like to walk to your mailbox, and to your absolute and sheer delight receive a handwritten letter, or even a postcard, written by a beloved friend, crush, or long-lost buddy?  I didn’t until I reread some of those letters that had just been hidden away in my various basements and storage closets in bright yellow 8 1/2 by 11 envelopes for eons.  Thanks to email, texts and social media, I never write letters or send personal snail mail anymore and it’s such a shame.  For in re-reading those letters, most of which I received in college, law school and shortly thereafter, I got to revisit who I was at the time, my relationship with the writer, shared hopes and dreams and the love and friendship I shared with people who now that we are all adults with busy lives, often with partners and children, are no longer as vulnerable, as accessible or as real with each other anymore.  I reread a card I received my first winter break my first year of college from a friend who indicated he wanted to be something more with sweet nostalgia.  I reread postcards from two amazing friends from my dorm who road-tripped across the country several summers running to take in baseball games in as many different cities as possible and revisited the unique joy and camaraderie their friendship lent to so many (myself included).  I reread a card from a sorority sister exploring Japan, and one toiling away in med school as a newlywed and I marveled at the very different paths we all took.  I reread birthday cards from my parents, my brother and my sister sent while I lived hundreds of miles away and remembered what it felt like to be homesick and so very loved and missed by my nuclear family.  In short through letters, I revisited people I loved and even myself in a pure, unfiltered form and it was nothing short of wonderful.

Given  that, I’ve decided that my new summer hobby is going to be letter writing.  So if you want a letter or postcard from me, give me a hint and perhaps you will get one.  I hope all of you reading will also take this post as a hint and start treating the ones you love with the unexpected delight of a handwritten letter or postcard that they too can reread for as long as they wish to keep the memory of who you and they were at this exact moment alive and well.

In the meantime, here are two great books that tell their tales through letter writing (admittedly one via email letters, but still) that are also great beach reads.

Graduates in Wonderland by Jessica Pan and Rachel Kapelke-Dale

..documents the post-college lives of two Brown University besties living continents apart in Beijing and New York City through their weekly email letters to each other.  The authors who were truly best friends at Brown are now both writers living in London and their book takes one back to the universal uncertainties, hopes and firsts of real life as adults.

Keep Me Posted by Lisa Beazley

…is a story about two married, adult sisters, one living in Manhattan with twins and one as an expat in Singapore, who vow to stay connected by writing letters to each other that become increasingly confessional as time goes on and ultimately, to both of their shock and dismay, end up on the Internet. A fun read with some good insight about marriage, sisterhood, the perils of social media and the desire to stay connected in our increasingly frenzied world, this book was great chic lit.

That’s it for this week…until next Monday, Treat-A-Weekers,

Yours truly,

M