Not one but two friends sent me a link to Snail Mail My E-mail. Send these folks an e-mail (addressed to someone you know) and they will hand write and mail it for you. They’ll even seal it with a kiss if you ask! This service is free, and they kindly request that everyone uses it only once because they don’t want to overwork the volunteers. I posted the link to this site on Twitter last Friday and had a fun discussion with some readers.

Rodney (@rodney_o)said: “But is not the beauty of handwritten correspondence also the effort a writer takes to pen a note or letter?”

He’s right. This site does deny the writer the chance to connect with the page.

Reader Stephanie (@syntaxoflife) responded: “That’s part of it, but first we need to get people to understand how nice it is to receive mail! =)”

She is also right! When one becomes a lover of receiving handwritten mail, then the realization that s/he, too, can make someone’s day by writing a letter is not far behind. I am grateful for any gimmick that gets the letter-writing conversation going. If there’s anything I’ve learned from doing what I do, it’s that everyone has a letter story to tell. Whether it’s a letter they’ve written or received, everyone’s face lights up when telling an epistolary story. Sometimes that’s enough to send them home to sit down and hand write someone they love.