Hard Copy

Just before Thanksgiving my sister- and dearest friend in the WHOLE wide world, mind you- moved to Germany.  Something about having to go where her Air Force husband goes.  Whatever.

I was pretty darn proud of myself for not crying while we hugged goodbye.. twice.

But when she called me from the airport before she boarded the plane and shut her phone off for good I broke down.  No more texting a gazillion times a day about the big, the little, and the so inconsequential only she would care?  No more calling her whenever I'm having a funk of a day to have her snap me out of it with her witty sense of humor? No more instant updates and pictures sent to me on the latest dog biscuits and puppy cakes she is baking for her fur baby? Unimaginable.

And then it got worse...

We survived by facebook and emailing the first few weeks she was in Germany while she was living on base in temporary housing... but then she went and got a house.  Apparently it is rare to have the internet in your private residence in Germany and to get it takes a very, very long time.  We're talking months.

Man, I've been missing her.

So you can imagine my extreme and utter happiness when Dave brought the mail home and I spied, amidst all the junk mail,  a cute little German postcard for the chickens and a letter for me.

A letter? A real letter? Why didn't I think of that?!

What a treasure!

I am very grateful for modern technology- texting, email, facebook, Skype- that make it possible to communicate with loved ones instantly but man, something about holding that letter in my hands and reading it over and over again made me realize that as a society we are missing out on something by moving away from the old fashioned pen and paper.

Downton Abbey anyone?

Which reminds me, next time I talk write to Crystal I must strongly insist she watch Downton Abbey so we can gossip and chatter about the characters as if they are real people.