Death of the Letter?

Part of the process of writing my letter to Bob (see Letter to a Dying Friend) was finding stationery. Remember stationery? Paper of a good weight and design meant for handwritten words to convey thoughts and feelings?

It seems both are a lost art - handwritten letters and conveying thoughts.

I went to four stores before I could find proper stationery. Four! This might not be the most sophisticated city on the planet but why is it so hard to find something that ought to be part of daily life? Imagine, I even went to Staples - an office and paper supply store. There was no letter writing stationery in the stationery section. I had to explain to the 20 something year old clerk what I was looking for; she seemed to be lost when I spoke about hand writing a note to a friend. I left out the part that I'd be mailing it off. Didn't want to confuse the poor thing.

I could buy a box of note cards. Beautiful stock, gilded and glittered but not near enough room for what I needed. I could get pre-printed post-it notes with gorgeous background designs. They had stacks of pre-printed pads of paper, in check list form. 'Things to Do' or 'Shopping List' or 'I Love You Because'. Call me old-fashioned but sending a memo or a post-it note to a dying man doesn't seem appropriate. Maybe that's the problem - I'm old fashioned. Maybe those are the modern ways of communication now. Is a pre-printed check list a step up from texting?

I finally found stationery. I'm not sure if it's irony or symbolism, but something deep is hidden in this: I found it at Chapters. A book store. Maybe the people who can still read, still write? Some people still want to share, convey, release, reveal? Chapters had two themes of paper - butterflies and peacocks. I bought all that they had of each. A hundred and twenty eight bucks for paper.

I have a lot to say.