(P)ostcards, Placemats and Packages

 Postcards and packages – the lost art of good mail.

I pretty much never get anything good in the mail.  Usually all I get are bills, bills, some junk mail, and more bills.

Remember years ago when you would actually get handwritten letters?  My grandparents also would send me postcards, almost on a bi-weekly basis.  Today it has been 1 year since my grandfather’s passing.  And even though I know he is in a better place, I still am having a hard time accepting that he is gone, and wish I still had kept some of the postcards they had sent. Click HERE to read the letter I wrote to him on my way to go see him while he was dying.

My mother recently got a new sewing machine and now that she is retired, she has a lot of free time on her hands and has been busy making all these new creations.  I can hardly remember her ever mailing me a present.  Usually on birthdays or Christmas she would send a card, with an occasional check in it.  But now that she has her new sewing hobby, she has been making placemats, and has sent me two for St. Patrick’s Day, and two for Easter.  She also made me a pillowcase with my favorite NFL football team logo on it.  It was a very welcomed surprise, getting a present in the mail, especially from my mom.  Here are pictures of the 2 placemats:

 

My sister and her fiance just went to Paris in March (one of my dream vacations).  I asked her to get me an Eiffel Tower souvenier and some chocolates.  Well, she actually did, and my package arrived the other day.  I have been waiting for 3 weeks for it (she lives in the UK and I live in California).  I was so excited to arrive home after a long work day to see my package waiting for me.  Here is my Eiffel Tower and my chocolates, with the wrapping covered with different popular sites in Paris:

One of my blog buddies, Raven, was doing a project where she was sending handwritten cards/letters, one per week, for the rest of the year.  I ended up sending her my address, and loved getting the nice letter in the mail a week later.  I have really missed the little things, like handwritten letters, homemade cards, postcards, and surprise packages.  They have a way of making you feel thought of by the sender.  It is so easy to just send an email or Facebook message, taking away the personal feeling of the messages at times.  Maybe this will serve as a reminder to all of us, including myself, to occasionally take a few minutes to send an actual letter/card to someone in the mail; send a small gift package; or remember to pick up a few postcards on your travels and send them to friends and family far away.

How do you feel about getting packages/letters/cards/etc in the mail? What was the last thing you got in the mail?  How often do you send mail to others?

This post is part of a month-long series, A-Z, that I am participating in for the month of April.  You can learn more about it by clicking on the link over on the right sidebar.