After yesterday’s review of the book of letters from Tennessee Williams to Maria St. Just, I got to thinking about all the letters I once wrote to family and friends back in the college years right after I left home.  It was not uncommon for me to sit down at the desk and write a two or three page letter to someone, which I stamped and mailed! Remember the excitement of getting a letter in the mail?  I still get that.

This got me to thinking about songs about letters: “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” by Stevie Wonder first came to mind right away. Then I found this cool top 10 list of letter songs. 

And this led me to thinking about how much I’d love to start writing letters again.  I had a pen pal in New York for several years between junior high and high school who I wrote to from an ad in a Tiger Beat magazine.  And I still communicate today with a retired professor in Mississippi who I met through an ad I posted in a personals section in a Memphis newspaper before I moved there. We don’t write as often these days, but we still write.

So why do we have to stop?  They still make paper, don’t they?  Stamps cost twice as much these days but we can still use them.  Ink pens and pencils are cheap. So let’s give the post office something to do.  So here’s a challenge for you!  And I’m calling it…SEND ME A LETTER!

Start by emailing me at shannonyarbrough@gmail.com.  (Yes, email is impersonal but I figured it was the quickest way for you to get your address to me.) Send me your mailing address!  Or send me the address of someone who you think could use some cheering up and might like to receive a letter in the mail. Be sure to tell me why they need a letter and not you!

Don’t worry…I’m not going to create a mass mailing address list which I’ll sell to companies to bombard you with junk mail.  Not gonna happen!  But what I will do is hand write you a one page letter.  It would be nice if you wrote me back, but I know you might get busy and forget.  You might be too busy farming on Facebook or seeing what Charlie Sheen has to say on Twitter.  That’s okay.  Write me back if and when you can find the time.

I don’t know what will come of this, if anything. For now, it’s about making people happy by knowing someone wrote you a letter.  If you like that feeling, then email me. If you need a letter, send me your address.  Or like I said, maybe someone else you know needs a letter.  I’m waiting with pen in hand and blank paper ready to receive my words.

Send me your address asking me, “Send Me A Letter!” And when you get it… please read the letter!