Handwritten Notes – A dying art form

I have a love affair with period drama. You know, Sense and Sensibility, Howards End and most recently Downton Abby. (If you’ve not heard of Downton Abby – rent Season One from Netflix. You’ll be glad you did. And Season 2 is currently being shown on PBS on Sunday nights and it was just released on DVD, so there is plenty of time to catch up).

There is a lot of letter writing in period dramas, lovely handwritten notes, eloquently articulated, on creamy thick paper before being precisely folded and sealed with wax. The letters are delivered on silver trays by the footman, while the recipient drinks tea and eats little cakes.

I have come full circle with my appreciation for hand-written notes. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that hand-written notes are a rarity in contemporary society. The explosion of social media has all but eradicated hand-written notes from the norms of our culture. I get it. I do. Email is fast. It’s quick. It’s easy. It doesn’t require a note card or a stamp much less remembering to get the note to the mailbox in a timely fashion. Let’s face it. Our lives don’t include the footman making deliveries on silver platters.

There are two events that have stirred my fondness for handwritten notes.

1. My disdain of “thank you notes” via facebook which you can read about here.
2. I received one, an honest to goodness handwritten note. An actual thank you that someone wrote on a paper card and mailed to me. And gee, it was nice to get something in mail that wasn’t a bill. I was touched the sender would take the time to write me something. And then mail it. With a stamp. Maybe it’s because I do know we all lead busier, more hectic lives and she didn’t take the easier way out.

So my goal for this year (notice how I’m not calling it a resolution since resolutions are dumb and almost always fail) is to write more handwritten notes. Because notes are nice and significantly more personal than an email typed in Arial 12pt font. Maybe it will prompt a resurgence of footman and tea drinking.

One can hope.

I can hear you

This is an honest to god true story from the Good Neighbor Festival Art Show. You can read recap about that show here.

Me: Sitting in my booth watching and listening to a couple outside my booth discussing one of my tye dye one-piece rompers (you know, onesies, except I can’t call them onesies because it honks off the legal team at Gerber).

The guy: (Loudly with disgust and finger wagging): “$14.50 for a onesie! It’s not like there is that much material. $14.50! Ridiculous.” (Guys continued to rant for another 30 seconds)

Me: “I can hear you”.

Guy: Hearing me, hearing him, moves along to taunt some other poor artist.

Me: Hopping up on soapbox inside my head.

Dude. It’s a novelty item. You aren’t going to dress your baby in 20 tye dyes. But if you want to I’m your gal. And hey, the price of cotton went up like, 60-80% for wholesalers in the last year. And it’s hand-dyed. Which means one color at a time. One piece at time.

Me: Hopping off the soapbox inside my head.

Buy unique. Buy handmade. You might pay a bit more but isn’t it refreshing to know you’d be buying something that isn’t all “made in China homogenized sameness?”

Facebook – it’s not for thank you notes

Ever.

Just so my position is clear right out of the gate.

I understand that we have evolved into the mecca of social media; however I would like to point out that facebook is not a vehicle for sending thank you notes.

I’m a stickler on this.

I was schooled in Etiquette in the house of Donna (my mother). I have my own copy of Emily Posts Guide to Etiquette. I have used it often. There are very specific rules about thank you notes and I don’t care that facebook is the whiz bang new thing. Facebook is not a vehicle for a thank you note even if that note is a “private message”.

I sent some baby gifts to extended family members. Two of the three “thank yous”, I received were via facebook. Uh, really? I didn’t post a picture of the gift on facebook. I actually picked something out, wrapped it, shipped it and included a card. The receiver of said gift should sending a HANDWRITTEN thank you note, putting a stamp on it and dropping it in the mail.

I can’t bend on this one. There is a protocol for the formalized hand-written note and I don’t care what kind of technology is in place today. Technology is not a replacement for etiquette; although I am finding it is eroding it and lowering our collective standards for acceptable behavior in polite society.

As a refresher…gifts given for weddings, baby/bridal showers, confirmations/graduations deserve a HANDWRITTEN thank you note. Birthday gifts that the receiver is unable to the giver in person (such as a card that includes cash/check) also deserve a HANDWRITTEN thank you note.

Not a text message.

Not an email.

And not a facebook post.

A thoughtful gesture deserves a thoughtful HANDWRITTEN response.

No exceptions.