A month of postcards

I normally write a pitch for Letter Writing Month at the start of February, but it’s 2022 and things are crazy in 2022. So, instead of a month of letters in February, I am doing a month of postcards in March.

For a bit of background, Letter Writing Month takes place in February with the goal to write a letter every day. I began the practice several years ago, long before I learned that there is a Letter Writing Month “movement” that was gaining momentum for a while. (It seems to be fading, but I have no plans to stop.)

Regular readers might be familiar with my February Letter Writing Month, and many have even received letters. Indeed, I gained a pen-pal a few years ago when a reader reached out asking for a letter. We continued to write regularly until his unexpected death in October 2021. It was so lovely to get to know him and his family through our letters and really highlighted for me the reason I write letters: Those little envelopes filled with words carry so much joy and friendship with them!

However, Letter Writing Month wasn’t something I had the capacity for this year because of my mother’s unexpected illness and death in January, and my delayed return home to Scotland from my Christmas holidays. There was just no way that I could focus on writing letters, especially when my first two letters were always to Mum and my pen-pal.

But as I don’t want to wait until next February for a marathon writing month, I’ve decided that March will be a month of postcards!

But not just any postcards: Postcards from my Mum!

Some of the many postcards Mum collected from her travels around the United States of America

You see, Mum liked to collect postcards from her travels as mementoes to keep for herself, as well as those she collected to send to others. And, like some other people I know, she amassed far more postcards than she could ever send.

Mum enjoyed her stacks of postcards (flipping through them on occasion), but they aren’t the kind of thing that others want to keep for themselves. Not the “blank” ones collected in “bulk” at least. (I have several postcards that she sent me over the years that I will always treasure.)

But whilst these blank cards aren’t something of “value” to most people, I know how much they meant to Mum so I couldn’t bear the thought of them being dis(post)carded. So, I rescued them to be used! (Much like I did with the small stack of postcards and notecards my late husband had collected over the years.) I imagine there are more postcards somewhere in the house, so I’ll be sure to ask Daddy to set them aside for me, too.

Sharing Mum’s postcards is like sharing her love: Her love of travel, her love of beautiful places, and her love of family and friends.

And now, I want to share my mother’s postcard memories with others. Sharing Mum’s postcards is like sharing her love: Her love of travel, her love of beautiful places, and her love of family and friends.

So, much like my previous offers to send random letters to people throughout February, if you want to receive one of my Mum’s postcards (or know someone who would enjoy a random postcard), give me a shout (and a name/address) on my contact page, here.

NOTE: There are plenty of postcards left (I started off with 100s of them) so you can request postcards beyond March 2022. I will keep the offer open until I run out of cards.

And much like my other posts about letter writing month, I encourage you to take some time to send a letter (or a postcard) to someone in your life, too. You can find inspiration for people to write to here.

Happy writing, one and all.

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