I’m not sure how writing letters has become this vintage action that rarely occurs anymore, but I enjoy writing letters, taking notes, planning long hand, and writing in journals. I know that online tools have taken away some of the reasons a person would write a letter, but we are multi-faceted human beings. We can communicate in more than one way and I know that I love receiving letters, no matter how few or far between they come. I enjoy a text also, but seeing someone’s handwriting that you love is special, it shows so much history about that person. It is such a personal look into what the writer is describing, it takes a few more minutes that sending an email, but the keepsake of the actual letter is priceless. Here are five reasons writing letters is still important.

1. History

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they write. The way their handwriting covers the pages, the loops and circles, the doodles, the story behind the letter. All of it adds up to who the writer is. For example, I write big and loopy, because my personality is fun and bubbly you have a piece of my personality when I write you a letter. You learn who the writer is, because how they react to a story on paper is their true reaction; they had to explore those feelings and articulate it to you so you could feel how they felt.

2. Personal

When someone takes the time to say hello to you and to check in, that is a personal gesture that they didn’t have to do. They (the writer) chose to sit, take the time and to write a letter, then to send it to you. That is a lot and shows how much that person was willing to do just to write you a letter.

3. No limitations

There are no limits to what can be included in a letter, you can write about whatever you want. Tell stories, share secrets, revisit memories. The ideas behind a letter are endless. Nobody is screening your letters and monitoring what you are writing about, so you can tell the most risque tale or share personal reflections with the recipient without restriction.

4. Creativity

The possibilities are endless with the creative path you can take while writing a letter. You can use different color paper and pens, cut shapes from your paper and write the letter, include cards and pictures, place stickers or glitter on the paper, spray perfume, the list is ongoing. If you can think it, you can add words to it and send it as a letter.

5. Keepsakes

To have these creative, pieces of history is to have a keepsake for as long as you can keep a hold of the letter. You will forever have a piece of the writer. If your family is the writer, you will always have their thoughts at your finger tips. If the letter is from a friend to you, you will always have those written memories from that person. If you are the writer, you are giving a piece of yourself to the recipient and that is priceless.