“Summer romances end for all kinds of reasons. But when all is said and done, they have one thing in common: They are shooting stars – a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, a fleeting glimpse of eternity. And in a flash, they’re gone.” -The Notebook
I was walking down Queen West and stopped to snap a photo of this pretty mailbox. The mailbox reminds me of letters and letters remind me of The Notebook, that’s why I’ve quoted The Notebook just about everywhere.
But more on letters… I wish we still wrote handwritten letters to each other. Nowadays, we’ve got Microsoft Word and a few fancy fonts that make a nicely typed, impersonal letter that take a fraction of the effort of a handwritten letter. The closest we get to a handwritten letter is a greeting card with a personal message, which really isn’t the same thing. The worst is when you go the way of e-cards – the utmost effortless and impersonal. Nothing feels quite like the sensation of half crinkled, crunchy paper in between your fingers and the comfort of familiar scrawls on a page. When I was at a couple of stationery shops this weekend (The Paper Place and Valhalla, both on Queen West), I was like a kid in a candy store and I didn’t know what to do with myself. Stick me in any stationery store and my heart starts to feel every emotion in the world. Pretty pens, papers, envelopes, stickers, notebooks, journals, binders, notepads, stickys, make me gaga – and they do have to be pretty because I’m not talking about stationery at Walmart or Staples made by Hilroy, Crayola, and Post-It. I’m talking about real stationery with neat, intricate designs and absolute creativity – think Japanese stationery.
It was at The Paper Place that I was suddenly struck with a new mission: I am going to start handwriting letters to friends on pretty paper, wrapped in pretty envelopes and send them out in the mail in time for Christmas. Christmas won’t get any more personal than this!
