Postcards

Recently the San Francisco Chronicle had an article about the demise of the postcard. It says that with the advent of email and camera phones, and the decline of letter-writing, postcard sending on the way out.

This makes me sad. I love postcards, both receiving and sending them. Being a sentimental packrat, I have kept every postcard that's ever been sent to me. I have a letter-holder from Thailand hanging near the kitchen and I store most of them there. (When I first get a postcard, it lives on the fridge for a while, then gets moved into the letter holder.) I also have a postcard mobile my friend Margaret gave me, which is hanging in the study and holding postcards from Ecaudor, England, Romania, Hawaii, Scotland, Yellowstone and China.

I like sending them as well. Any time I go out of town, I send one to my grandmother and Chris's parents. On longer trips I send them to other friends and family.

I'm not sure what is so appealing to me about postcards. I guess it's a combination of getting a surprise in the mail from friends or family, getting a glimpse of places around the world they've travelled to, and seeing what short message they've chosen to write. Vive le postcard!