Love Letters In Your Box

I don't about you, but I love getting a handwritten letter, a note, or a card in the mail from someone. Usually my U.S. mail box is filled with things like bills, and boring mail that I don't really need or want.

Then by pure happenstance, I'll open my mail box; retrieving the mail; peering inside and pull out a treat. Suddenly, I'm filled with zeal holding a handwritten envelope; addressed to me from someone who thought I was worth their time. That person sat and jotted down their thoughts; they bought a very expensive postage stamp and then they drove around looking for a mail box.

Warm and tingly is what I feel when I receive mail like that. I think I'm going to start saving all the letters, to include the envelopes.

All the great romances of our time seem to begin with letter writing. I'm gushing with romantic thoughts as I type this blog today. Nearly every Jane Austen story intertwines a letter written secretly to someone; sent by hand delivered courrier. The contents of the letters are often detailed thoughts about a coveted love, a clandestine affair and quite often, the love is unrequited.

Here's just a few lovers who penned love letters: Napolean Bonaparte and Josephine De Beauharnais; Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browing; John Keats and Fanny Brawne. God, do I love a sappy, good romance that ends with sweaty, knees shaking, lighting a cigarette sex.

I'm starting to write another story about on-line dating; more specifically the romance in the e-mail correspondence between my two characters. Lets face it, we live in the world of instant gratification; the internet is our best friend. We're a society that has surpassed receiving hand delivered love notes, and we barely use the U.S. Postal Service anymore. It's so much easier to pay your bills, and type out your requests and responses via e-mail, even blogging and then hitting the send key on your PC keyboard.

I'd like to know what your thoughts are about the wide spread epidemic of on-line dating. I'd also like to know more about the communication piece; the love letters, disguised as e-mails written back and forth between two people. Does it conjure up a romantic image for you? Do you think that some day, centuries from now, someone like me will be speaking of the on-line e-mail message as the greatest love letters ever written, the same way I refer to the hand delivered letters in two paragraphs above? Do you have any on-line dating experiences to share? You do? Cool. Please do.

Thank you in advance for your comments.

p.s. The love letter mail box necklace above can be purchased via Etsy here.