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After I left for the navy and was living on my own, my father would occasionally send me letters handwritten on his three-part business memo forms with the Pruett Jewelers logo at the top. A few times, he forgot to separate the copies and left the carbon paper between the sheets, probably harried and overwhelmed as he usually was and rushing to make the postal deadline. His letters passed on the news from home, newspaper clippings, a message from mom, bits of wisdom he garnered from his Great Depression years upbringing, and sometimes a victory or loss he had experienced in business. He also wrote to let me know he was thinking of me, and if I was lucky, there was a check for $25 or $50 enclosed. He was a thoughtful and generous man.
Not long ago, I started writing a letter to each of my children to share some fatherly thoughts, advice and family history, and I decided to handwrite them—partly in honor of my dad, but also to present them in a form my children have rarely experienced. With the advent of computers, text messaging and e-mail, it seems that few young people know the pleasure of receiving a handwritten letter, and fewer still have written one. Who has the time to handwrite letters anymore when you can make a quick call and hear the voice? But there’s a power, distinctiveness and artful quality to the truly singular hand of the writer, something precious to be treasured and kept to read again. Perhaps my kids will find this letter in the back of a drawer a few decades from now, and maybe it will have special meaning for them—and perhaps it will bring a memory to life.
We hope you have the pleasure of receiving a handwritten letter this year.
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