Write a Letter!

We are now into week three of social distancing.  Some days are better than others.

Most of us are feeling the sadness and loneliness, at least from time to time, of limited human contact. We are social beings, after all.

Imagine being an elderly person in a nursing home or some other type of long-term care facility.  The highlight of their day, sometimes of their week, is the visit of a loved one.  And now, that can’t happen for them.  While we feel sorry for ourselves that we can’t go to the movies or our favorite concert or sports event, they are even more isolated.  And remember, they are foreigners in the land of technology, so many of them cannot access the internet.  Landlines is all they have.

You, on the other hand, may have a lot of time on your hands. The closets are cleaned out.  The laundry is done.  Maybe you are feeling like you’d like to help, you’d like to do something, but what?  You are not a healthcare provider; you aren’t supposed to leave your house.  How can you make a difference in someone else’s life?

It’s so simple!  Write a letter.   Write a bunch of letters. Send the letters to an elderly relative. Ask your friends if they have relatives that could use a bit of cheering up. 

My book club is writing letters to all our elderly relatives.  I am arranging for some of my colleagues at work to get their clients who are children and could use a project, to write letters to a local facility. 

Writing letters is a lost art but easily resurrected.  Grab a sheet of paper and send a note. It doesn’t have to be long.  Just write about your day, the weather, send a drawing, or cut out a magazine picture, ask a question or two, promise to write again (and do it).  Letters can be re-read, they last forever, and they bring a smile to anyone who receives one.

Take a couple minutes of your day to make someone else’s entire day!  Write a letter!