I am in the middle of reading a perfectly delightful book called “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” about a young female author, her pursuit of knowledge of the Nazi occupation of Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, during WWII, and the relationships in her life. The entire novel is a series of letters to and from Juliet from her publisher, friend, suitor, and a whole cast of Guernsey Island inhabitants…and you can see the relationships growing in the letters. It is masterful…But it has caused me to ponder relationships in general that grow or even are exclusively the product of the written word, rather than physical meetings….I think of Baron Von somethingorother and Evelyn Underhill who corresponded for many years, the Baron being spiritual director for Underhill. I think of women who corresponded with men in the “Old West” and eventually travelled out to meet and marry them…I think of the penpals I had for years as a teenager…and I think of relationships I now have via email with many people, a few of which have deepened into real and true friendships, at least I consider them that, though I’ve never met these people. Now, ponder…with email exchange, a series of “letters” which ordinarily would take a year to go back and forth between two people a world or a country away, can now happen in one week. In one week of steady correspondence, one can learn a great deal about another person, or about, at least, how that person chooses to present him/herself. Is there any more danger of misrepresentation in email than in letters or in person? I don’t know. And if the relationship can go through a whole year’s correspondence in a week, is it then possible to fall in love, say, in one week of same?
Okay, this is fascinating me…it is a sort of paradigm shift…relationships forged in a different way, a different time span, a different plane, almost: not complicated by the physical presence or attraction or temptation to jump into bed, that in person relationships encounter…so there might well be some good in them…actually promoting knowing a person better before the sexual encounter? I give up…
So, now the real question is, is this pondering the result of the whiskey sour I had before dinner, which may well be fogging my mind, or is it just another wandering of the old brain. Whichever, it doesn’t help me get this room put back together again, so I’d best get at it…there’s so much to do in the next 11 days before we take off for Ireland and England…I still have several boxes of “stuff” sitting on the floor of this room which need sorting and putting away. I still have the pigs to acclimate to electronetting and get out in the woods. I still have the sheep to corral, worm, and separate the lambs from (that doesn’t sound like good English to me!). I still have my veggie garden to plant, and the ram pen to seed with zucchini and summer squash, to feed the pigs when we get back. (The piglets have done a marvelous job of tilling said pen, and it’s ready to plant.) Then there’s packing….
Well, I”m happy to have any thoughts on relationships, email, letters, etc. that anyone wants to contribute to this thread…it will distract me while I do this busy work in my room, this putting away of stuff, one of my least favorite things to do.
The Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival was very good. Sue and I had a great time, and a marvelous gigglefest on the steps up to the second floor of the motel, two old ladies carrying way too many bags, instead of making two trips, worried about disruptive and noisy teens possibly in the next room, and making a huge ruckus ourselves, probably disrupting teens in the next room.
This past weekend was Dottie’s and my yard/perennial sale. It was also quite successful. I’ve taken the yard sale stuff leftovers to the church for their yard sale in two weeks. (The rule is: once it’s out of this house, it can’t come back in.) And next week I’ll take the plants that are left as well. For now, they’ll stay here and be watered and such. Wednesday I will deliver four lambs to their new home. Thursday is quilting, though I can’t for the life of me remember where…guess I’d best make some calls!
Life is good.
June 3, 2009 at 10:56 pm |
As you well know, letters are a very powerful connection. There is real joy in the exchange of lives and thoughts that can go on between friends joined only by the written word. As to whether the friendship flourishes faster by email — I think it takes a certain time for trust and sharing to grow. Surely 1-year posts would slow things. But I’m not sure electronic flights hasten the growth of confidence all that much. Not among the wise, anyway!
Your loving correspondent,
S.