Remember When?
When you were in elementary school, high school, and maybe even college, when you had something to say to your girlfriend, fianc?e or what-have-you, what was the medium you used to convey those special thoughts? The handwritten note. If you didn't use this method, where were you in your youth-in your cupboard underneath the stairs?
Something to Think About
Here's something for you to chew on-when you receive a letter from a friend or relative, what do you expect--maybe a printed letter, right? Okay, that's fine. But what do you expect to see at the end of that letter? A handwritten signature! Well, at least I do. They're your friends; they are supposed to take the time to scribble their name at the closing of a letter to you. If it happens to be one of those form business letters that were crafted to look and sound as though someone important were writing directly to you, I turn it over and look for the impressions that would be left if they had actually signed it themselves. And if there are no impression, then I usually disregard anything nice that was said in the entire letter. Why? Because it doesn't have the quality of at least a bonafide signature.
Why Is That?
Why do we feel this way? There's some psychology to it, but that's not really within the scope of this article. But here's the general feel of what it is. When you write to your significant other, wife of many years or newlywed, girlfriend, or something more, she wants to know that you took the time to write to her. You sat down, wherever you were, and took that pen in your hand and wrote your heart out onto that paper just for her. It gives her that sense of intimacy that she has been looking for between the lines of those computer-generated characters you've been sending her.
Nostalgia for the Good Old Days
When we write something with good old-fashioned pen and paper, we put time and effort into it. That's what she's wanting. Not a printed letter or an e-mail-that's the fast and easy way out. If you give her a printed letter off of your computer or send her an e-mail, it's not going to have a tenth of the impact as it would if it had been handwritten.
Is the Intimacy and Romance Gone?
After a while we tend to lose that sense of intimacy and romanticism, which flourished and came so naturally to us as our love for each other blossomed. Women are mysterious beings, but this is one thing I know for sure. I have been married for a while now and my wife still loves to receive the sloppy scraps of paper I give her.
What If I Don't Know Her Address!
If you have a love, but you've never met her before because it's an online passion you've found, you can still give her the satisfaction of a handwritten letter. Just write it, then scan, fax, or even take a digital picture of it and send it to her via the Internet. I'm sure that would have some of the same effects as a tangible letter would.
Jon Owen is a freelance writer who has most recently published an article titled, Writing for the Internet-How To Give the Readers What They Want on Ezine @rticles? in the writing section, also, poetry with poetry.com since 2001, and is currently working on a book of his own poetry, which will have the title, "From the Depths Within." The author's website--http://www.jonowen.com--contains a list of publications, contact information as well as an author's bio, useful links for writers, and dedications.