Why snail mail will never die

I'm obsessed with the new Goodnight Moon stamps

I haven’t sent a letter in months but I bought a sheet of the new Goodnight Moon stamps from the USPS website today. Do I already have a couple sheets of Forever stamps I haven’t used sitting in my office? Yes. Do I need these stamps? No. But I’m so glad I bought them.

During lockdown, I got into letter writing along with a lot of other people. People of all ages wrote letters to their representatives, to friends, to family members, to playmates who lived down the street that they couldn’t visit. Stamps soared in popularity. It was enough of a verifiable trend that I wrote about it for The New York Times. I got involved with it myself, signing up for New Yorker writer Rachel Syme’s penpal match and writing strangers all over the world. (Syme's book about letter writing just came out this year.)

In the midst of all the fear and sadness during that time, I remember letter writing fondly. I even sent eggs from my backyard chickens to one of my penpals across the country. They arrived safely at their destination. (Thanks, USPS!)

And then…the letters slowed.

My penpals stopped responding. Life got busy again. The pandemic experience was different for everyone but I think often of my many friends who expressed that there were aspects of being forced to slow down, do less (because you couldn’t do anything!), and not be busy all the time that felt valuable. More than one person said they wanted to take some of this back into their lives once things opened up again.

In a few cases, the changes lasted for a little while. Now we’re all so busy. There’s going out to eat at restaurants and parties and meeting up in coffee shops. My social calendar is all too easy to fill. But the quiet is missing and I don’t see many people reserving space for the hobbies we professed to enjoy. Last year, I made ice cream with the maker I bought as my lockdown indulgence one time. I loved making ice cream! I loved eating it! But I, too, don’t make the time.

I let my penpal relationships fall by the wayside. I’d rather communicate with my friends in ways that don’t involve waiting to send and receive a letter. But I send snail mail more than I used to before 2020.

Because another thing I came to take more seriously since then was the value of telling the people you care about that you care about them. Hearing it in a text or over the phone is nice. I actually find it overwhelming to have someone tell me they care about me in person because then I feel like I need to react in the right way to it. (Maybe something to work on?). But there’s something special about having those words written down. When a close high school friend died a few years ago, I only had a couple emails and messages between us to look at. But I had the notes she’d put in my mailbox, a few letters, and the chapbook she’d made and signed. In a few of them, she wrote down how much our friendship meant to her. She’s not here anymore but there’s still a tangible reminder of our connection. When I miss her, the letters are what I go back to—not the emails.

I send my friends cards on every birthday and sometimes just because. I’m trying to get better at expressing what I appreciate about the people I love. Usually it’s easier to do in a letter where I know it won’t be seen for a while. (Why does it feel so scary to tell my friends how great they are?) I also love collecting silly postcards to send at random. Who doesn’t like to get mail that isn’t a bill or something they ordered online?

The Goodnight Moon stamps in all their glory

This is where the stamps come in. In the winter, I stamp cards with my winter scene stamps. If someone likes horses and I have a stamp with a horse on it, I’ll put that on the outside of a card. The stamp, then, becomes another way to say “I see you and I know you”. I know a lot of different people so I need a lot of stamps.

Who will the Goodnight Moon stamps be for? I’m not sure. Maybe they’ll go on letters to people I haven’t even met yet. The beauty of the Forever stamp is that they last, well, forever.

And if you haven’t written a letter in a while—or bought a sheet of stamps—maybe this is your sign to give it a try. In addition to Goodnight Moon, the USPS has Keith Haring stamps, baby animal stamps, D&D stamps, and Betty White stamps.

Buying stamps today reminds me of all the people I could, and should, write letters to. It’s almost lunchtime here. I’m going to start scribbling something down right now.

---

Notes:

It has been 80 degrees in Portland and I am soaking up every bit of sun I can find. Remembering to adequately sunscreen my body is another issue. I have a face sunscreen I love (Elta MD’s tinted SPF 45—it protects me from the sun and makes my skin glow??) but need to find a body lotion that is also a sunscreen. Any recommendations?

I got the chance to read (and blurb!)

Justin Gregg

upcoming book Humanish: What Talking to Your Cat or Naming Your Car Reveals about the Uniquely Human Need to Humanize. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. I already think about anthropomorphism all the time! (A thing most people probably don’t say?) But this book really opened my eyes and made me think about why humans anthropomorphize and how and when it can be a good thing or something to guard against. Gregg goes beyond animals to talk about how we anthropomorphize AI and other technologies which is unfortunately increasingly relevant.

Humanish doesn’t come out until September but in the meantime, you can grab a copy of his first book If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal: What Animal Intelligence Reveals about Human Stupidity.

I put condensed milk in my iced coffee today and highly recommend this on a morning when you need or just want a little treat.

Until next week,

Sit down and write a letter.

-Tove

You can directly support my work by upgrading to a paid subscription to A Little Detour, sharing this post with someone who might enjoy it, or buying a copy of my book Under the Henfluence.

Because all writers have a never-ending hope of finding ways to make writing financially sustainable, I’ve opened a Bookshop.org affiliate page. If you buy any of the books I mention in this newsletter, I will get a small commission and will use it to buy myself more books.