Reaching out with Letters

When was the last time you wrote a letter?

For me, it was weeks ago. Somehow the time has gotten away from me. In this age of email and texts, it seems old-fashioned and a tad bit on the Luddite side to sit down and put pen to paper. Who has the time to think, write legibly, and get said letter in the mail complete with a stamp and address?

Years ago, I wrote many letters each week. I kept up with over 20 people this way. I wasn't a mad letter writer. I was a young, single woman living in Cold Bay, Alaska.

If you don't know where Cold Bay, Alaska, is, find the blue airplane on the map below. It is located at the end of the Alaska Peninsula on the homelands of the Unangax people. It's about 600 miles from Anchorage, Alaska, the nearest city where most services are provided. We used to say that it wasn't the middle of nowhere, but you could see it from there.

When I lived there in the late 1990s working as a biological technician (think wildlife biologist in training) for Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, the population was around 55 people. It is a beautiful, harsh land. On average, there are only seven clear days a year, and the daily wind speed is about 20 mph.

This is me banding bald eagle chicks. Because there are no trees, they nest on large rocks.

Exploring and working in that wild landscape was magical, but it could be lonely. There were few people my age in town. I fully enjoyed the numerous community activities and the adventure of living so near to wilderness, but I missed friends and family who lived far away.

With them, I exchanged letters. The letter below is one that I wrote from False Pass, Alaska. I had been weathered in by a snowstorm and knew I would have time to write a long letter. You can only travel between False Pass and Cold Bay via small aircraft, so snow makes it impossible to travel. You'll notice that I say I am writing this first part to everyone. I used carbon paper to make copies as I wrote.

You might think this is sad, but it wasn't. At that time, letters were still the primary way of communicating with people who lived far away. There were no cell phones. Computers were wicked expensive and the dial-up internet connection in Cold Bay was intermittent at best. Long-distance phone calls were at least $0.10 per minute. A letter in the mail was a bright, bright spot in the day. Love in paper format.

Every Sunday morning, I would bake bread, brew a pot of coffee, read or reread received letters, and write letters in response. If you know anything about baking bread, you know it takes a while with multiple risings and shaping steps. I used this whole time to sit with my pen and paper writing out my thoughts and experiences to those who lived far away. I reread their letters, asked about what they had shared, and answered their questions. I felt so connected when I finished. I was still alone, but I wasn't lonely.

Before the development of the printing press, letter-writing was our only form of non-face-to-face communication. Even after the printing press, it was still the only way to communicate on a personal level with someone who you couldn't visit. Even with the advent of email and texting, letters are still the things we keep in boxes on our desks and shoeboxes in the closet and tucked into books. Why is it so hard to throw away a letter?

I think it's hard to throw them away because of the handwriting. I don't know about you, but I know my mom's tidy cursive writing, my dad's steep left-handed scrawl, my husband's tight printing, and my college friend's loopy, artistic swirls. Letters are physical objects they sent to me with a piece of themselves scrawled with the simple tools of pen and paper. I know that while they wrote those words, they were thinking of me. How could they not? Have you ever tried to write a letter to someone and not think of them?

A letter from my mom. I still exchange letters with several friends and family.

These letters are physical manifestations of their thoughts of me and I treasure them. I hope they know my letters carry my thoughts, love, and care back to them.

I'm going to go finish a letter I started yesterday and get it in the mail.

When was the last time you sent a letter?