Now on the look-out for Sock Monkey stationery

I hadn’t realized how long it had been since I had written an actual letter until I went looking for stationery yesterday. In fact, aside from thank you notes and blurbs inside of Christmas cards, I honestly can’t remember the last time I handwrote a missive and popped it in the mail to someone.

Rob and I actually got to know each other through letters before we started dating. It turned out to be a fantastic way to learn about each other. With a letter, the conversation is slow and meandering and only one person talks at a time. And unlike a text or an email, there is something very personal and tangible about handwriting put to paper. The choice of paper and writing instrument also conveys something. Pencil vs. black ink vs. bright pink Sharpie vs. crayon all communicate something about the state of mind of the author. No shot of that when communicating via satellite or server.

A couple of weeks ago, I was emailing with a 19-year-old friend in her first semester of college many miles away. We chit chatted a bit and she mentioned she’d love some pictures from home to put up on her wall. When I asked for her address, she encouraged to me to write as well. She explained that she loves getting and writing letters but it seems like letter writing is a lost art. I was blown away! I totally agree with her but surely did not expect a member of the "Just Text Me" generation to have that perspective. So it was with excitement that I went digging through my desk yesterday in search of stationery so I could write her a letter. And what did I find?

• Two pads of graph paper
• Three pads of light green special note-taking paper I used in college
• One piece of stationery remaining from my Tropical Fish phase
• Five pieces of light pink stationery remaining from a gift from Grandma back in the ‘90s
• Two packages of Engineer’s Computation paper (now sitting on Rob’s desk)
• About 20 sheets each of the Mickey Mouse stationery (Rob) and the neon green stationery (me) that we used to correspond with each other 21 years ago
• Four boxes, varying degrees of full, of resume paper: two Ivory, one Parchment, and one Moonstone Grey

I pondered my options, as well as my audience. My friend is attending an art institute to eventually become an industrial interior designer (designing interiors for hospitals, airports, etc). So the graph paper was too linear, the Engineer Computation paper too geeky, the pink Grandma stationery too Grandma-y, the Tropical Fish paper too sparse, the note-taking paper too close to home, and the Mickey Mouse/Neon green stationery too nostalgic.

Realizing that I can’t imagine a modern day use for resume paper (does anyone actually print resumes anymore??)…not to mention that I am permanently unemployable thanks to my back issues…I opted for the Moonstone Grey 100% Cotton Fiber paper with Kid Finish. It was the paper I purchased for my first real job search after graduating college in late 1989. I remember picking the grey because I knew it would stand out among the more standard white and ivory resumes, this being perhaps the most worthwhile nugget I learned during a summer temp job when I was in charge of cataloging incoming resumes for the HR department of a big bank.  Today, I imagine my quirky grey paper would stand out for arriving via a stamp.

So three sheets of Moonstone Grey later, covered with purple Sharpie handwriting at a slight incline, an old fashioned letter is now on its way across the country to whom I am hoping is my new pen pal.