I couldn't remember for a brief second how to write, and that was just a signature for an everyday item. Which got me thinking about how much handwriting do I actually do these days? Or does anyone for that matter?

I despised hand writing lessons in school. And my brother often tells me my writing looks like it got blown over in a windstorm.However that aside, most people are brought up in school with some form of cursive, since Grade 3 (in Canada, anyways). But where does it deteriorate to where we don't want to use it at all? I have no definite answer, but I think it may have to do because we are always in a hurry.

I send far more electronic communication than letters. I type better than I write. I don't have to worry so much about spelling.Grammar,yes. Whoever receives my messages will be able to read them.If I take notes on something, I noticed that I print. Everything I do is because of speed and the need to get everything to my clients in the most timely way possible.

But,sometimes I wonder if I'm losing something.

When I was a teenager (so years ago),I wrote to somebody who was living in Switzerland. He had a very busy life as a dancer, but still managed to keep in touch. We corresponded sporadically for about five years.By snail mail. Email wasn't invented yet.( I know, it is unbelievable. I tell my nephews they would never have survived the 80's.)

I have to laugh, when I think how it would be done now in the 21st century.No having to find paper and pen, just type it out on the screen. No international postage, just click and send. Language barriers? No worries, automatic translation kicks in. And, if you have to send a Christmas card, no more trips to the store, type in an e-card and away you go.

As Rob and I were planning our wedding,and all the reply cards were coming in, my mother made a comment about how she would miss all the mail when it was over.

Maybe there is a part of us that still yearns for a human connection,something totally different from all the electronic communication we are bombarded with everyday.

Bills...bills...bills...junk mail...bills.
Oh,wait,what's this??!!

This is the reaction I get when there is something handwritten in the mail pile. And so far... no electronic communication has replaced it.

For someone to handwrite something is truly special. That person thought enough of you to go find stationery, compose thoughts,write them down and post them. In our hurried lives that could have taken hours. Hours which most people spend in various ways,but not by in keeping touch, through civilized communication, as one author puts it.

There is a thrill to knowing what is on the inside of that envelope that doesn't look government issued. International stamps have an allure all their own ( Switzerland had some cool stamps and postmarks).And more often than not, I would wonder why Canadian stamps were always smaller than European ones.

Heartfelt communication have been sent this way in the movies. Heroes of the war held their families and loved ones close at heart with letters. Perhaps the swish of the pen on paper inspires a more romantic,nostalgic feel when people didn't have to have everything yesterday. When we were content to wait a few days...not blow up when our computer is seconds slower loading than usual.

Sometimes, email can blanket everyone with a kind of informality, its very nature is to deliver quickly and concisely. With a handwritten note, it is you and only you that was singled out for that particular moment,even if only to be addressed on the envelope. You are addressed by Mr,Mrs, Miss, Ms. Doctor, Judge, Lieutenant,Captain,or Coach. You have, for a brief moment, a little humanity attached to you as opposed to one line of your username.

Perhaps letters encourage us to slow down, become more aware of what we are doing.When you are writing, it is a permanent action (unless you use gobs of liquid paper). You cannot delete,go back a page or move text around. What is written says put. And I think in doing so, we need to think more, to express more. That come across to the reader of the letter or note.

Handwritten notes subconsciously make us more attuned to what we are saying. Not everyone understands LOL,ROTFL,FYI and several other abbreviations that are cropping up in emails and texting.

But, everyone understands "love", "sincerely" "best wishes" and "really wish you were here".