Dear Friend,

Last night on the phone we shared laughs and thoughts. We were clicking our glasses from afar, chatting the hours away. Today, I learned that you're gone.

Your made a remark that the art of writing a letter has become an endangered species that was being devoured by text and instant messages, and even by e-mails.

"Not that I don't like IMs, to the contrary. It has its advantages at times. But it doesn't really allow to develop a thought. Once you've hit enter to send the first part on its way, more often than not, you'll receive an answer whether you still were writing the second or third part or not. It's a tennis match where each side scrambles to keep up with the balls thrown their way.And e-mails, all too often, are mere raw bones, dropped into a mail box that is or is not monitored, or even has ceased to exist. Who takes the time, nowadays, or makes the time, to write a letter ~ working on the words and phrases until they are just right to carry the message they are meant to convey?" 

Your comparison of an IM with a tennis match had me seeing tennis balls adorned with broad smiley faces bouncing happily back and forth whenever I saw someone texting away on their phones. And rather than being annoyed that the texters were bumping into others left and right, I stood back to watch the melee with a big smile of my own. Once again, you have managed to open my eyes to the funny  and absurd side of things. So, rather than heading straight home, I went and picked up what I needed to write you a long thank-you letter. I laid it all out carefully in my mind, how I was going to paint you a picture of my day: of the smell of spring in the air that greeted me when I left in the morning, the sunshine that -at some point in the day- reflected from the picture of you that sits on my desk ... 

My purchases may have been a waste, but so long as I can still hear your voice in my mind, your laughter, and your sighs, at my follies and failures, I will keep sending letters to you. You may be gone, but to me, you're still there, ready to set me straight when needed ~ which, unfortunately, is by far too often.

Be well, my friend, and take good care of yourself ~