Good morning, lovelies! Today is Day 14 of #write31days challenge and my 31 Days of Gratitude 2016. We are so close hitting the half way point! Kudos to my fellow bloggers who are still typing away. Kudos to the readers who are still sticking around because, let’s face it, those are a lot of posts to read! But the writing exercise has been good for me and here’s to hoping I survive the second half. 🙂

The other day I was reading through the blogs that linked up for the Weekly Writing Challenge and Chris from Campfires and Cleats was talking about Five Minute Friday. I have heard about it but never participated, until today. Chris inspired me to give it a try! The rule is to write 5-minutes straight about the topic of the day, more specifically, as the blog states, “This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.”  This ought to be interesting. 😉 Okay, setting the timer and go…

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Today is my first 5 Minutes Friday. Yay! I clicked over and saw that the theme for today is “Mail.” What?? Anyone that knows me also knows that I love snail mail and that I have a note card collection that would rival any Hallmark store! Wait, do they even have Hallmark stores anymore?

My love of mail and writing letters started when I was a little girl and and had my first pen pal. The thrill of finding a letter in the mail rivals many joys in this world. As I grew older, I realized that receiving mail was only half the fun. Actually writing a letter and sending it to someone else was even more enticing. I realized that while I sometimes stumbled on my words and was not sure how to express myself, once I took pen to paper to fingers to the keyboard, my thoughts would untangle and the feelings I had in my heart would slowly be revealed. Whether it was a note to a friend or a letter apologizing to my mom, I could express myself in a way I could not with my mouth.

Later in life, those letters to a friend became letters to a future husband. We met online and while we emailed and end eventually phoned one another, we also took the time to sit down and write letters to one another. We revealed an inner part of ourselves to each other than others had not seen. I still have those letter tied up with a ribbon in my treasure box. And every holiday or birthday that comes around I walk into the kitchen and find a love letter waiting for me and letting me know that 17 years later, I am still the love of his life.

That’s what mail is to me, more than just words scrawled on a piece of paper. It is an envelope of love given to a friend, a relative or someone you love. Or it is an act of kindness to a stranger – a military person overseas, a sick child in a hospital or an elderly person sitting alone in a nursing home.

Today I am grateful for the people who have sat down and written me letter. As my thanks, today I will sit down and pen a note to a friend. 🙂

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Whew, I did it. I only went over ten seconds to wrap up the last sentence. That was fun but it will kill me not to rewrite and add to what I wrote, although I will at least clean up the typos. A good lesson in humility. 😉

Have a great Friday! Don’t forget today is the last day to link-up for Weekly Writing in October. (If you are doing 31 Days, just add your favorite post.) The new link-up for Week 3 will be up tomorrow morning.

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

Today I am linking up with Kate for Five Minute Friday: Mail

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For more 31 Days of Gratitude, visit the homepage here.

Want to join the writing challenge but are unable to write everyday? Join me for the Weekly Writing Challenge in October instead.

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