Box of Letters

Spent some time today sorting through my big box of (received) letters, doing a little organization.  I don't sort them fully (though maybe I should, using some sort of filing cabinet system?), but right now I have them organized via big plastic ziploc bags to group them by author.  Of course only the people who have actually written me a notable amount have ziploc bags--everyone else is just thrown into the big singleton pile.  I've now split the letters up since I have another box...now all the assorted random ones are in the old plain plastic box and the grouped/categorized ones are in a nicer-looking box that I recently came into possession of.  Someday I'll sort them and file them a little more nicely rather than having all these plastic bags, but on the plus side the ziploc bags are good for preservation anyways.

There are a LOT of letters in these two boxes -- something around 234, probably plus a handful more that aren't counted in my official log (short cards and such), and they are my most precious possession.  These letters are the only remaining link I have to some people too.

Flipping through them, I found some that weren't categorized into the respective ziploc that they should be, and also added some more ziplocs for people who I've gotten more letters from now since last time I did this.  It's so interesting how when I was flipping through them there were a lot of letters that I was able to associate with the author really quickly, either by envelope design, or by handwriting.  There were a lot of letters that I remembered offhand, and just by glancing at the design and handwriting I sort of recognized it and remembered what it was about.  But there were also letters I had almost no recollection of--one from Yun-sama, for example, and another from Katheryn.  It's always fun rediscovering those.  I also discovered two wonderful letters from Belinda that made me feel really close to her...I was touched.  I hope she is doing alright now; and hope I can write to her again, too.

I don't often go through reading from the box, but I do sometimes, every once in a while.  Especially during times when I'm in a certain mood...I can't really recall what it feels like, but there's a certain mood of maybe sadness or loneliness, or maybe times when I have a little trouble falling asleep, when I'll go and read those letters.  I want all those people to know that I still read their letters, and they still mean a lot to me when I do.  It's really important to me, and I hope that I can hold onto all of them, forever.

Going through them, it convinced me that all of the things I did over the years--all the writing, all of those Christmas letters and gifts every year, all of the birthday letters--it has all been worthwhile.  Even the friendships that didn't last, the memories still survive, and my box is proof of that.  Proof that we have lived, laughed, and loved together.