Letters*

Choose two people that have had an influence on you. Write a letter to each thanking them for their contributions to your life (this should be done either early in the week or late in the previous week to see if you get a response). Write one in long-hand (you know, pen, paper, stamp, that kind of thing) and one via email. You should complete the letters prior to the week this is due so your recipients have a chance to respond. Think and write about how you chose which one to send the message via snail mail and which via email. Also, write about the differences in the language, length, tone, etc. Are there any differences? What kind of responses to you get?

For this assignment I decided to write a letter to my grandmother and to email my mother.
I decided to write my grandmother in long hand because she doesn’t have a computer, yet I wanted her to know that she has influenced my life. She already knows because I tell her all the time, but her seeing that I took the time to write her and not just call made her smile. Of course she still gave me that “Oh honey you didn’t have to” routine.
The letter I wrote to her was about two pages and I wrote in print. My grandmother did mention in her reply letter about my handwriting. She claims the youth these days don’t have proper handwriting. I guess it was because I didn’t have the catholic nuns looking over my shoulder every other second making sure I put proper space in-between each letter and word. My grandmother also mentioned in her reply letter how technology has ruined the kings English! But I assured her that the king is resting in peace and wasn’t worrying about my grammar to much.

My grandmother didn’t waste anytime writing me back. She is 80 years old so she doesn’t work or anything so she had plenty of free time to respond. She also expressed the letter back to me. I’m not sure if she did this because she was eager for me to get her reply, or because I mentioned the assignment in the letter. I like to think it was the first option. Her reply letter was about the same length and her handwriting was beautiful! Perfect cursive writing, I don’t think I seen cursive writing like that in years.

I sent my mother the email because she likes to think that she is computer literate and is always saying “I have to check my email”, which I think its jus so funny. It mostly funny to me because every time she checks it I get a phone call asking how to send a reply message or how to forward something and etc.
My mother responded right away as well. Her email was short and sweet however. She responded saying how that email made her smile and that she would call me later, which she did. When she called she asks me what prompted the email, so I told her about the class and the assignment.
I think that the responses were different because the letters were to people of two different generations. My grandmother’s generation appreciates the time taken to write and the thought. While my mother still appreciated the thought, kind of wondered why I just didn’t tell her over the phone or face to face because I do see and speak to her so often.

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