Over the past six months I have become part of a couple of online websites where folks sign up and send and receive mail.....that is....SNAIL mail! :) They are www.postcrossing.com and www.swap-bot.com. I love getting "real" mail in my "real" mailbox. Email is okay, but there is just nothing quite like getting a handwritten and personal letter in the mail....in your mailbox...where you have to reach in and retrieve it, see who it's from, and then decide how exactly you are going to handle such a precious letter. Will you rip it open immediately and read it? Or will you delay satisfaction by holding on to it for a bit. My preference is to delay gratification until I'm back in the house and sitting down, comfortable, and not distracted. Over the past 6 months I've been writing a lot and sending out a lot of mail. I'm especially happy about gaining 3 very special penpals in Japan, the Netherlands, and Poland. My penpal in Japan is American and is a librarian on a Marine base. My penpal in the Netherlands resulted from my association with postcrossing. My penpal in Poland was a wonderful result from a "penpal swap" on swap-bot. These women and I have exchanged some wonderful cards, letters, and information on our respective lives. Sitting down and putting pen to paper is very relaxing and enjoyable for me. I also adore stamps...from everywhere! So I've been buying older U.S. stamps to grace the envelopes of everything I send out to my friends.
These are just a small representation of mail I'm sending out for the Christmas holidays. I am also currently a little obsessed with making my own envelopes from thrift store-purchased books, magazines, maps and such. It makes me very happy to send out handmade envelopes with handwritten messages inside. I have also been enjoying making very small mini-envelopes with a tiny messages inside. So here's the deal. If you would like to send me some "snail" mail....then I promise to write back to you. You can send mail to me at: Teresa Bragg, 1909 Dahlia Drive, Nashville Tennessee 37210, USA. My motto will be "Send something, receive something!" I really look forward to hearing from you! Teresa
