Simple Abundance

I came home tonight, after teaching a gentle yoga, deep relaxation and meditation class, to a beautiful pile of mail (and only ONE letter from the bank!). It was truly an abundance! (Right photo) While the main objective of My Year of Letters is to give and share, the beautiful thing about giving in general is it really does come back to you ten-fold. Words are a precious gift, a kind gesture, and each letter feels like a treasure, a piece of someone else's heart and soul that they've carefully wrapped in nice paper and sent across far distances.

I also had a moment of "ask and you shall receive." Since embarking on this project, I've been scouring the stores nearby for nice stationary/ery - to no avail. Even though I live near a Staples and several gift stores that sell stationery-like products, none of them seem to sell stationery that is both beautiful and useful (and better yet, eco-friendly). Stationery, like fashion, should be aesthetically pleasing and functional. If you have beautiful stationary that doesn't have room to write on, it's still nice to send - but nicer if you can include your thoughts and words. Not to mention, what I have found seems to be terribly overpriced. I found myself longing for my days in Japan where 100 yen (roughly $1 USD) could get you a cute and hilarious stationery set of nonsensical English phrases ("I am Cool Bone Guy - Girls are Gutlessnesses In Such Me" comes to mind). And I've been longing for some nice stationery to compliment what I already have, as I'm burning through it fast these days.

Ask, and you shall receive. Today, I got a beautiful package from one Mrs. Sarah Cauley, who I have had the joy and pleasure of knowing most of my life. She has been following the blog and wanted to send me some stationery that spoke to my personality. And if I were paper, I would definitely be the paper she sent! One set appears to be made of recycled maps, and for anyone who knows me, not only do I travel extensively but I'm also somewhat obsessed with maps (see top photo). Our living room is also known as the "situation room", as we have essentially wallpapered one of the walls in vintage maps and maps from different places where we've been. The other set seems to be made not only of really nice recycled paper, but the envelopes are made of OLD DICTIONARY PAGES! How cool is that? It also has a very pleasing texture which is a bonus in stationery selection - extra points for having something that is pleasing to write on, that you can actually feel as you write. I must say I'm really excited to send a letter in one of those (which hopefully won't confuse the postperson too much with the definitions on the envelope). Thank you, Mrs. C! :)

Another thing I'd like to share about the art of writing letters, which perhaps I've mentioned before, is that you find out (and share) much different things than you do in email or on facebook or on a blog. People write about different things, and it's really interesting and wonderful. Letters also feel like secrets - just between the two of you, something special and sacred. And if you write me a letter or give me your address, I will write to you, and maybe you can find out for yourself :)

(Yes, I like to punctuate with smily faces, both in email and the written form ;)