Letters

For this assignment, I chose to write to my best friend from high school, Sheila, and my oldest son, Alexander ("Lex," as he prefers to be called now).  I am mailing a hand-written letter to Sheila, since that was our primary means of communication when we were in school.  Lex will get an e-mail, since that is our primary method of communication now.

In my letter to Sheila, I told her how much her friendship meant to me when I was new in town and didn't fit in with anyone at our small high school.  She and I shared most of our classes, since we were both trying to get into college, and our school only offered a few college preparatory classes each year.  We passed notes to each other all of the time, and we had a lot of fun together.  We still talk on the phone occasionally, and she always teases me about birth control (she only had two children, compared to my nine).  I'm not sure if she'll have time to respond, since she has a very busy life, but I hope she will at least let me know when she receives her letter.

In my e-mail to Alexander, I told him how getting pregnant with him completely altered my life.  I shared some of my favorite memories of his childhood, as well as how much I miss being around him.  I also told him how proud I am of his accomplishments, and that I am hoping that his law school application gets accepted next year.  I think he will do very well in his life, as long as he doesn't make me a grandmother any time soon!

I didn't hear back from Sheila, but then again, I didn't expect to.  She rarely e-mails me, and she only sends out a letter once a year (usually at Christmas).  Lex and I sent text messages back and forth after he read his e-mailed letter.  He was touched that I took the time to write all of that for him.

Both letters were approximately the same length.  I can type much faster than I can do cursive, but I felt that both recipients deserved a heartfelt letter.  I did spend much more time with Sheila's letter, primarily because I was writing in pen, and I didn't want to have to scratch through all of my mistakes or rewrite the letter every time I changed my mind about what to say.

In both letters, I felt that I had to be careful about what I wrote, in order to avoid miscommunication.  In Wood & Smith, the Social Context Clues Theory takes place whenever human communication occurs.  We are usually aware of the audience and environment when we communicate, and I took both of those into consideration when writing my letters.  My tone was different in each letter, too, simply because Sheila is someone my age and is my equal, while Alexander is much younger and is my child.  However, both letters were proofread before sending, primarily to ensure that nothing I didn't mean to say came through.

This was an enjoyable assignment.  I hope I'll hear from Sheila soon.  Maybe she'll write back to me with a "real" letter!  :)