I can’t remember the precise point when letters died, I think there should have been an announcement, a ceremony, something to mark the passage of something so important in our cultural, economic and personal history. I still walk to the mailbox every day, even though there are fewer and fewer things of importance in it, most of my critical messaging is sent and received online. Today when I reached in our big mailbox, I felt something unusual – a letter, not a flyer or utility bill, an actual letter, I could tell by the feel of it. It was solid, heavy, on good thick paper. It crinkled, as if something was wrapped inside of it. And it had an actual postmark – it was from a remote corner of Canada, there were four beautiful stamps of the Madonna and child.

I brought it in the house and put it on the table. Maria opened it and said, hey, you have to look at this, and I took it in my hand. Inside was a handwritten message composed so it would fill the middle-third of the page and then could be folded into thirds. Behind it was a tin sheet of  foil crisply wrapped in thirds. When I opened it, there was a fresh new $50 bill. A letter with $50 in it. And a hand-written note, I felt as if I had been visited by a time machine, and I suppose I had.

The letter was from Fram Brummer. To my knowledge, I had never heard of her or seen the name. Seemed clearly from a small town in a faraway province. The penmanship was strong and clear, obviously the product of some education and practice. The tone was friendly, warm, but not in any way inappropriate, it was the message of someone who knew us well, was a regular follower of the blog. She knew what was going on.

First, Fran wished us a happy anniversary. Then she wished me a speedy recovery from Lyme disease and hoped I could get away for a few days. “Love your blog,” she wrote, “and you saved my life on August 30, 2009 when my sister Marion, recommended you. Thanks for all you do!” And she added warmly, “Never quit writing, Sincerely, Fran Brummer.”

Her letter was in response to the new subscription plan I instituted on the blog a week or so ago. People can access the blog for free, or they can contribute any amount they choose for one-time only, or they can now subscribe using Paypal either for $5 a month or $60 a year. The response has been strong and supportive, we are getting underway. Fran does not belong to Paypal and she does not send e-mails when a letter will do. I was touched that she would go to the trouble of getting a brand new $50 bill and then go insert it so neatly into foil – there wasn’t a single wrinkle in the foil, I can’t imagine how she did that – and write her very neat and touching letter, and mail it off. She felt it was important to subscribe in her own way.

That kind of character is inspiring and it also made me realize how much I miss letters. You have to think about a letter, before you send it, and before you read it. Fran had to take a lot of steps beyond e-mail to do that, and I appreciate her understanding that it is time for me to be paid for my work, to allow that and receive it. I would never have accepted Fran’s letter a year ago, or the $50 bill,  now I will paste it on the wall above my computer with my small and growing collection of favorite letters.  Lots of subscribers are letter writers, I see, no surprise. Thanks Fran. If you never quit reading, I will never quite writing.

You give me faith that as long as there are people like you, writers will never fade away like letters.