June 2: #24 Write and mail a letter

Phil: At first I thought I'd try and mail a letter to someone who wasn't expecting it, or someone who wasn't in my immediate circle. But a big issue was I don't know anyone's mailing address. I also don't want to just force a letter out of me when I don't have to write one, like Bruce did to his penpal. So I wrote two. One for my buddy Pete, because I actually had been putting off a little letter I had planned for him for quite some time, and one for my girlfriend Laura. Basic choice to write a letter to your girlfriend? Yeah, maybe. But it was also a fun experience for me because there are things you don't really have the time or the opportunity to say in most other formats, even including the immediacy of text messaging. I immediately noticed that my hand was hurting, because who writes letters these days? I also found my hand rushing to write because I'm so used to the immediacy of getting my thoughts out onto the canvas via typing or even the more lazy option of voice-to-text on the cellphone. But it got easier as I went. I liked the longform ability to just get my thoughts out and kind of let them meander. I did a reiki session a few months ago and was told to write more with my hands. This was an important reminder to keep doing that.

Bruce: Today’s task came at a perfect time because I have a Floridian artist pen pal and I have been meaning to get back to him. I had a really crazy day with a wedding so I wrote a very brief letter (which is much different than usual, but helped me cut the stream of conscious meandering ) and mailed it out at the end of the day. I continue to find the excitement of getting a letter in the mail and the organic experience of writing them very unique and cathartic and as this is a friend that I met for the first time during challenging days last year, it’s nice that this project is sort of keeping me in touch with people.

Tomorrow's challenge: #19 Do a random challenge from last year. We rolled again using last year's challenges and landed on #27 from last year: Spend time creating something (anything)