I was talking with a friend of mine who is a high school teacher the other day, and we were talking about how much things have changed since we’ve been in school. One change that I wasn’t aware of was the loss of the all important agenda book. You know, that special calendar notebook that you wrote down (by hand!) all of your homework, activities, and reminders in.
I can remember spending so much time at the start of each school year, trying to choose just the right agenda book with the best cover and most functional page layout for my needs. I would carefully write in all my activities and reminders in my favorite color pen and I loved seeing my day, week, and month laid out for me, looking back at me in my own handwriting. Homework would be written in another pen color, and my work schedule in yet another.
I’ve still saved all of those agenda books, from junior high school all the way up through college, where, incidentally, I would write in date nights encircled with hearts with my then-boyfriend….never knowing he would one day be my husband.
But my friend told me that when class is over and she asks the students to copy down the homework from the board, almost no-one actually writes it down. Almost all of her students text it to themselves, type it into the calendar on their phones or blackberries, or – get this – take a picture of it with their cell phones.
And who can blame them, really? I certainly don’t write down much anymore. With grocery list generators, and online shared calendars, and email & texts, the need to put pen to paper is going by the wayside.
I may type or text more than I write now for most of my practical, everyday needs, but I still love to sit down at my desk with my favorite colored pen and some beautiful stationery and pen a note to a friend to thank her for dinner, or write to my Grandmother and tell her all the things my daughter and I have been up to. And yes, usually by the time I am done writing, my hand hurts. There is ink smudged all over the side of my hand (I’m a lefty!), and it has taken me much longer to do than if I had sat down at my computer.
But, as I seal the envelope and carefully write the address on the front, I always have a sense of satisfaction that fills and warms my heart like email could never. I know that in a couple of days the recipient of my note is going to smile at her mailbox when she sees my envelope. She will love the pretty paper and hear my voice through my handwriting as she silently reads my note. And, chances are, she will save it in a box somewhere, and have the same lovely sensory experience when she comes across it next time, months – or even years-later. She’ll be reminded of a special moment, and of our friendship.
So that’s why I’m working so hard to preserve the Lost Art of Note Writing. There is something just so special about sending and receiving a personal note on spectacular stationery that email or texting could never replace.
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