Thoughtfulness + The Power of the Handwritten Note

During a recent late night conversation with my husband, we got on the subject of how much communication between family and friends has changed in our lifetimes, and how much less personal it is now than it was when we were our children's ages. We grew up before the internet (man does typing that out make me feel old), and we both clearly remember writing letters to cousins and grandparents and even long distance pen pals, and the thrill of receiving hand written notes of our own in the mail. These days communication is so very simplified that the closest most of us get to writing or receiving a handwritten note is a text or email, or maybe if we're really lucky, an e-card. We agreed that while digital communication is all well and good, of course, the very powerful level of thoughtfulness that accompanies an actual letter is missing when we communicate that way.

I woke up the morning after our conversation feeling inspired and motivated to write and send a whole bunch of notes written on pretty stationery to friends - but then, life happened. Within a half hour of getting out of bed, my toddler spilled juice on my laptop, my baby had a massive diaper blow out (good times!) all over the floor, I burned breakfast, and I accidentally deleted a very important draft email for work that needed to be immediately rewritten. As the day progressed, I thought more about the whole letter writing thing and how despite my best intentions, it was admittedly a commitment for which I realistically didn't have time. It bummed me out, but I really understood at that moment why we, as a culture, have fallen into the trap of just sending digital messages - we're busy, and it's faster and easier than putting a pen to paper. Period.

About a week later, I received an email about a company called Bond.co. As I read more about them, I thought back to my recent failed letter writing plans and started getting excited. Bond.co allows you to send handwritten notes on customizable stationery from your phone (via their brand new app) or computer. Basically, in the time it takes to type out an email, you can have a beautiful, personal note hand written, sealed, stamped, and sent. Pretty cool, right? Suddenly there was a way to omit the time and effort it takes to write and send handwritten notes while still keeping the thoughtful intentions. I was in.

I decided to send notes to my sister (a thank you for all she's done for my kids), my husband (using Bond's new app's customization feature to create my own personalized stationery with a photo of our son), and my daughter (so she could experience the wonderful feeling of getting a special handwritten note in the mail; I chose a colorful pencil stationery because she loves to draw). The app was super easy to use - within minutes all three notes were finished and sent. (And I discovered that they even have a cool tool that allows you to schedule notes to be sent at a later date. I love that!) Just a few days later, the notes were received, and they were lovely. My husband actually got a little choked up when he received his note in the mail (which means my attempts at getting him to feel sentimental worked; mwahahahahaaaa). My sister immediately called to thank me for the gorgeous letter (and was so impressed when I told her how I did it!). And my daughter was absolutely thrilled. After she opened her note and I read it to her, we worked together to create a couple of notes from her to her grandparents. It was really fun (and a little emotional) to help her send her very first letters, just like I did as a little girl.

In a time when we humans are so used to instant communication without much thought, it's pretty wonderful to see that the power of thoughtfulness via handwritten notes still exists. Seeing the reactions of important people in my life to receiving a piece of love in the mail was genuinely thrilling, and inspired me to continue to use the Bond app (which you can download right here) to send regular notes in the mail to family and friends. It's really nice to have a way to do this that is simple and quick (in other words, realistic) without stripping away the sentiment.

Do any of you still write letters? Are any of you fellow fans of Bond.co?

Thank you to Bond.co  for kindly sponsoring this post. All opinions are 100% honest and completely my own.


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