an unprovoked argument for letter writing

I'm taking a break from my unplanned blogging hiatus to scribble out my feelings on the importance of letter writing.

(HELLO BLOG! It's been over a month! Oops...)

The decline of handwritten letters has been an unfortunate result of, let's face it, the internet. Now, by no means am I complaining about the wwww (Wondrous World Wide Web), so hear me out!

Without the internet I honestly say that would not be in England right now. Without the security of (fairly) easy communication with my family and being able to see Drew's handsome face at least once a week...

(flashback to the October when we didn't have internet and I thought I was going to die and be shipped home to my parents in a box)

...there is absolutely no way I would have had the courage to take this crazy life detour. I love that I can check in on my friends via Facebook and twitter. I adore the fact that things like iMessage and Viber exist. I enjoy documenting my travels and oversea experiences on Instagram. FaceTime is my best friend, etc.

HOWEVER, I am mourning the loss of letter writing as an art form in our generation.

As a lifetime note hoarder and personal journaler (yeah yeah, "journaler" isn't really a noun but I am by no means a "journalist" so whatever) it was easy for me to transition into letter writing when Drew left for bootcamp this past summer. Since we weren't able to communicate at all apart from the coveted weekly letter, those letters became conversations. Conversations with ourselves about struggles of the day, longings of our hearts, the bitterness of separation, prayers for strength, and as much encouragement as written words can possibly provide.

Hooray for an email or text message than can be read one whole second after the writer hits the "send" button, no denying that! But what is to be said about the time and energy that goes into physically writing a letter? The character of personal handwriting? The anticipation of actually having REAL mail in your mailbox? The beauty and detail of stamps....I mean there's a reason people have entire collections of the silly (expensive) things! There's a reason why "evites" still haven't really caught on and there's a reason why writen cards, invitations, and thank-you's are still the social standard.

*sidenote, ecards should NOT be a thing. No one likes them. No offense.

That reason is personal connection.

When our parents were in college, they wrote and received letters from their parents! How awesome would it be to have those to reflect back on your relationship? Wouldn't it increase the gratitude and affection that you feel for them?

When our grandparents were young, the wrote love letters to each other during the war....imagine the history and love story in those letters!! BOOKS are written from letters, history is discovered through letters, inspirational quotes are pulled from personal letters...and what are we giving ourselves? Super crappy, disorganized, and eventually deleted archives of emails.

I fell 100% more in love with Drew by exchanging letters with him this summer, and still enjoy writing him letters while I'm in England even though we are lucky enough to talk on the phone daily. I feel more connected to those that I've had the time to send notes to, and I need to do more of that. I feel 100% more affection and more connected to people who have bothered to send me even a short note or a Christmas photo card while I've been here. I appreciate you all more than you know and will cherish your written words of encouragement for the rest of my life! (Like I said, serial note-hoarder).

So, end dramatic rant of the day. Go write someone a letter letting them know how much they mean to you! I promise you won't regret it.

PS- HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

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Mary Did You Know

Life has been seemingly busy and stressful the past few weeks.

The music has been hard, practicing sometimes seems ineffective, and we have this mammoth paper due in just a few days...

We don't have Christmas decorations, this English village doesn't seem very in to decorating, and we don't get out enough to witness any Christmas-y festivities....

All in all it does NOT seem as though Christmas is less than two weeks away.

Every year I try to get my heart into the spirit of Christmas, really contemplating the meaning. I've found it difficult this year since we are in such an isolated place and environment. EVERYthing is different than what I'm used to. Absolutely everything.

BUT, Drew sent me this video yesterday and BAM, Christmas. I hope you enjoy this as much as we have!!

 

 

Also, can someone buy me that floral cap please? (seriously...)

 

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December means...

When I woke up this morning I realized that it is DECEMBER already, y'all!!! 

Can you believe that? It's pretty much time to wave goodbye to 2013 because I'm quite confident that this month will just fly by...

 

December means that I have officially been in England for two whole months. It also means I'm a little more than a third of the way through my flute course here with Trevor Wye.

December means I finally have to do something related to school work (oh, good morning to you, cow that just moo-ed quite loudly outside my window...). Writing a paper over the origins of the flute up until the 1700s will take a good bit of time...

December also means I have several things to look forward to in the very near future! Liiiiiike a tour of the HARRY POTTER STUDIO! I'm going to fangirl more than I ever have in my whole entire life and I just need to finish that paper before I can go. Good incentive, right?

December (this is more of a "December downer"... Sorry) means that I have been away from Drew for 61 days and away from my family 72 days. Double that and that's how far I have to go before I see them again. 

((If you've been a reader of mine for awhile, you might have noticed that I don't mention Drew quite as much as I did when he was gone for BCT. Pretty much because it's too stinkin sad, not going to lie- Yes, if you let it, long distance can be absolutely soul crushing, but we're doing great! I just don't feel like being the person who constantly talks about how much they miss their SO, because if I started doing that I'm pretty sure I'd just cry for the remaining four months and I absolutely refuse to be that person!))

Thanksgiving away from home was hard. Special, but hard. I can say now that I'm More thankful for my family, especially the fact that we Do get together every year. I'm very thankful for such loving and uplifting people :) 

 

 

But finally, December means being reunited with one of my soul people IN PARIS of all places!!! I'm so so so excited to spend Christmas with my lovely friend Darbi, to see Paris for a few days, and to be refreshed for the second half of this flute class!!

So- cheers to your December. I hope you make something meaningful and memorable out of the last little bit of 2013!! 

Giving Thanks

 

I am thankful for family- for simply being the definition of family, which to me means love and continuous support no matter the distance.

I am thankful for Drew for the same reason, but also for daily encouragement and believing in my potential.

 I am thankful for my teachers and mentors who have invested their time and energy into molding my life as a musician.

I am thankful for friends that I can see or speak with twice a year and still feel as connected to them as ever, as well as the friends that I share life with on a more frequent basis.

I am thankful for my roommates here in England because they are as supportive and accommodating as can be for three people who didn't even 

know each other two months ago!

 

 

I am thankful for the beauty of a God's creation that is so evident here in the English country side. It fuels my soul and inspires me daily.

 

 

I am thankful for this life experience and the personal trails, changes, and successes I am going through because of it. 

Joyful Two Years

Two years ago in November I was finally introduced to the "cool new trumpet grad student" that my friends (**ahem Christina and Kate**) kept telling me about.

I had graduated from Baylor (for the first time) in May of that year and was spending some time at home teaching private lessons for flute and working at the eye doctors office. It was an occassional joy of mine to re-visit Baylor to spend time with my friends as well as taking lessons with Dr. Arnone while I was there.

One fateful visit at the beginning of November I just happened to be in town for the Baylor Symphony's Mahler concert so I of course was dragged along with my friends (the present day Mr. and Mrs. Culbertson, if my memory serves me correctly). Much to my humiliation, the "cool new trumpet grad student" walked by, in what I now know well as his "pre-concert-getting-pumped mood", and my dear dear friend Christina screams "DREW COME MEET PAIGE!!!!!"

OH My Goodness. Seriously?!

A quick hello and probable hand shake was exchanged and we parted ways and I most likely gave C the stank eye accompanied by an extremely red face...

There was that, never talking to that guy again!!!! But then we ended up at the same post-concert hang (not speaking, of course) and at a mutual friend's recital the next day. The guy had pretty cool glasses, I had to admit....

Thus our friendship was born. Because I worked at an eye doctor's office and had an appreciation for tastefully trendy frames. (Thanks Warby Parker!)

Embarrassingly flirtatious facebook messages were exchanged and I learned in the next week or so that Drew was visiting friends "in some town called Kingwood....you like in Houston, right?" for Thanksgiving! Weird.

So Drew ended up a few streets over from me in Kingwood, TX on Thanksgiving 2011. Turns out nothing is open on Thanksgiving (heh) so I made coffee for us (I learned an extremely important detail about him that first "date"- black coffee only) and we hung out for several hours in one of my favorite spots in Kingwood talking about our mutual friends, how he ended up at Baylor, our hopes and dreams, yada yada. I was pretty nervous, but on November 24, 2011 I knew there was something pretty special about this guy.

Fast forward to the present day and we are celebrating two years of Paige and Drew awesome-ness.

In two years I've watched Drew work harder than almost anyone I know and go on to win two jobs. He inspires and encourages me daily! In two years I've watched Drew grow into the man that he wants to be. He pushes me to be a better version of myself. In two years I've witnessed his loyalty to the people that he loves- family, friends, and fellow musicians. I'm happy to be with such lover of God's creation- whether it be people, animals, art....

Happy Anniversary Drew! You make me proud daily and I'm so pleased to be your girl :)

** Photography by Sarah Lake (http://sarahlakephotography.wordpress.com) from lifeofloveblog.com

 

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