A little letter from home

Letters. Letters from home.

Those mean a lot. I remember when I was little and my Dad was out "on the boat" for 6 months that my Mom would sit us 3 girls down and we'd each write a letter. I was so little my contributions were generally be an art piece - a page from a coloring book or a freehand drawing.

When the first stirring in the middle East happened (at the end of 1989/early 1990), I signed up for a program where I was assigned someone who was deployed in the campaign. I wrote to this guy every 2 weeks for a few months. And he wrote back to me when he could. He was so surprised that I continued to write. A lot of the other guys in his unit had only received one or two letters from their designed pen-pal in the program. So when letters kept showing up from me, he was ecstatic. That I would write to someone that I didn't know. Just because.

After I'd been dating my husband for a year, he went on his first deployment. I'd write him a letter every week. I'd also send him care packages about every 3-4 weeks. Magazines. Snacks. Silly things. But my letters are what I concentrated on. I'd write tidbits about what I was doing. How my family was doing. What was happening in our favorite tv shows. I'd write about anything and everything. Even though I only mailed the letters each Friday, I would invest a little time each night to write. I would dedicate those moments that I would be spending with him to put things down on paper.

I have to tell you that what you'd call snail mail was even SLOWER getting to my husband out on an air craft carrier. It would take at least 3 weeks for a letter to show up. Sometimes longer. It was craziness. But I continued to send the letters out. It was my way of making sure he knew I was thinking of HIM.

Fast forward a couple years and we were married. A couple months after the wedding, he went on his second deployment. But this time, the air craft carriers had some new technology. Email! This deployment, we could email each other any time. We knew one couple who'd email each other every single day. The Hubs and I only emailed every week or so. It was so much easier. He didn't feel so far away.

But even now with the invention of email and text messaging....I know how important a letter is. A letter written in ink (or pencil or crayon). Something created with you own hands - not a computer. Hand-written letters take longer. I put more thought and effort into hand-written notes and letters. I feel more connected to the person I'm writing to. And I hope they feel the same way too. I know my husband did. I know my guy in the desert did. And I know my Dad did as well.

So if you know someone in the military (in training, deployed on a boat or on land), send them a letter. Receivng a letter gives them a little love from home. Something we all cherish in this busy day and age that we live in.