A Love Letter to Emails

As I explore different ideas typing my first newsletter, I feel a tinge of nostalgia…I miss emails.

I’m not talking about the hundreds of emails at work flooding our inboxes. I’m talking about the back and forth, intimate, long-form emails we’d send to the people we love. The ones that took a couple hours, maybe even a couple days to write.

I checked my inbox this morning to find the last time I wrote (or received) an email like that…2006! 15 years ago!

I opened a few to re-read and it was like dusting off snapshots of relationships trapped in time. Instead of the finger vomit, auto-corrected string of reactionary text messages, riddled with emojis and animated gifs, these emails were carefully crafted, contemplative reflections. Quiet and intentional.

I told embarrassing stories. Gave advice. Confessed deep hurts. Comforted bitter betrayals.

I wrote emails in the middle of the night just to tell my friends why I love them.

I know I’m romanticizing emails. In the early 2000's, there were movies and TV shows about strangers falling in love through email (see You've Got Mail). But there’s something about conveying an uninterrupted string of thoughts…carefully wordsmithing to communicate feelings that would otherwise be too difficult to share in person. Maybe that’s what attracted me to blogging (what some might consider a dying art).

It’s personal.

Which brings me back to this newsletter. It’s my intentional, long-form string of thoughts and feelings for people that might care to read it. The beauty is there’s no pressure to reply (though please feel free to if the spirit moves you).

My hope is you glean something of use from it before hitting delete.

“Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them.”
– Marcus Aurelius