• thisisby.us writing
    • Driving West
    • Driving West II
    • Driving West III
    • Your Own Cadence
    • Celebrity Death Pool
    • Riverwords
    • Only in Your Dreams
    • A New Kind of Nieve
    • With Your Artist Hands
    • Unwilling to be Told
    • Email
    • No Sleeping Here
    • Only Mom Sleeps at Home Tonight
    • Students Over Security
    • TRaNSiT
    • Cycles of Freedom
    • She Said
    • Heartbeat for Africa
    • Driving in the Right Lane
    • In the Dark
    • Party of One

Daughter of the King

~ Just another WordPress.com weblog

Daughter of the King

Tag Archives: phone

Time Lapsed Love

05 Sunday Sep 2010

Posted by lbcarizona in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

communication, email, friendship, letters, life, love, mail, mailbox, phone, post office, tangible love, text message, words, writing

The most wonderful thing about letters is the time lapse. You walk out to the mailbox with an anticipation, however mild, for the short stack of papers that’s inevitably waiting inside when you pull down the hinged door. If your mailbox is anything like the ones where I’ve been getting my mail for the past few years, most of that paper isn’t for me. But if just one item says Miss Linda Sullivan on the front, that mild anticipation fizzes and pops like a cork out of a champagne bottle. A letter for me! Wee!

The interesting thing about the time lapse in letters, especially in a generation of immediate and technologically assisted gratification, is the concept that someone was thinking of you a few days ago, even a week ago, but not necessarily, and probably not right now.

A letter takes time to fashion. You must first decide to write it. It takes time to gather pen and paper, or fancy stickers and cardstock. Time to print pictures or make CDs. Time to send packages with pieces of clothing inside. It takes time to write—to craft words that mean something and say what you mean to say instead of saying something else. It takes time to find envelopes and buy stamps and maybe even to find the post office. It takes years to build up an address book of all the folks you like, and then they move and don’t live there anymore so it takes time to chase them around in order to write them so they know you still like them. Writing letters takes time.

And so when I open my mailbox and there’s a letter for me, I know that whoever claims the spot on that return address label took the time. Took the time to fashion something that would float around in baskets with wheels and comfortably in the bed of a white postal truck for days as it made its way from zip code to zip code, finding me. And by the time I get that letter, the time that was spent tangibly saying I love you is over. It was days ago, but I’m just getting tuned in now, standing at the mailbox. Sending letters is like constantly playing catch-up.

I find the warm feeling at the mailbox, the one that recognizes the time lapse in communication and appreciates it, more fulfilling than the vibration of my phone, alerting me to a text message or the white bar in my gmail inbox that says I have an unread email. I love those things too, and I experience mild excitement when they happen. Truly, I do (Is that sad?). But, the satisfaction of time lapsed love is far superior to me. And even a little bit more mysterious. And so, this is why I will always write letters and love receiving them.

Pages

  • thisisby.us writing
    • Driving West
    • Driving West II
    • Driving West III
    • Your Own Cadence
    • Celebrity Death Pool
    • Riverwords
    • Only in Your Dreams
    • A New Kind of Nieve
    • With Your Artist Hands
    • Unwilling to be Told
    • Email
    • No Sleeping Here
    • Only Mom Sleeps at Home Tonight
    • Students Over Security
    • TRaNSiT
    • Cycles of Freedom
    • She Said
    • Heartbeat for Africa
    • Driving in the Right Lane
    • In the Dark
    • Party of One

Archives

  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008

100 words adventure beauty books change character Chicago choice Christ Christian Christianity church city coffee Colorado communication conversation creative writing death downtown driving engagement entertainment exercise faith family food friends friendship future God graffiti high school hiking history hockey http://ibecameashepherd.blogspot.com/ Jesus Jesus Christ life literature love mail marriage memories memory Michigan money movies music new york New York City NYC observation pain past practice prompt rating relationship relationships restaurant review road trip salvation social songwriting story subway summer travel urban words writing youth

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy