Mail Call

"Welcome: You've Got Mail!" We all remember hearing those words after signing into AOL. When I was a teen those words made me happy as ever. They meant I had mail from friends and I couldn't wait to read it and send something back. Now, I do good to get any email worth reading. I have to admit, I miss email. I still think it is a great tool for communication - but as with all things technology has evolved into texting and social media networks.

Checking my mailbox at home is usually not even close to exciting. It's bills and junk mail. Who wants that? But, every time I order something offline via Amazon or something of the sort I get excited just like I did logging into AOL. 

This week I ordered a case for my phone. I have been looking for a case for some time because my poor phone is beginning to look kind of beat up from dropping it and this bugs me. After searching for what seemed like forever on Amazon I finally found something I liked. It's not an OtterBox [They don't make them for Samsung Galaxy Mini's]. Shame I know!

I paid $5.25 for this gem with free shipping and received it by weeks end. I love it. It seems like it is going to be very durable and it also makes the phone easier for me to hold. That's a plus! All the dings and bangs on my phone are covered so its like getting a brand new phone, at least to me it is!

What has been one of your favorite online purchases? Do you miss communicating with people via e-mail?

Personal Correspondence

How do you keep in touch with others? Through social media, e-mail, phone calls, texts, visits?

Most of us today keep in touch through social media such as Facebook, and text messaging on our mobile phones. Its much faster than a hand written letter and in our fast paced way of life we don't make the time to do so. E-mail is the same way it seems. It's much easier for us to keep up with each other through a website and text than to take the time to write an email. I have actually been able to keep in touch with family members I wouldn't even really know if it were not for Facebook. That has really been a blessing!

I remember when we first got a computer. I was 13. AOL was the big thing then. I remember thinking how neat it was to instant message someone or send them an e-mail. I made a 'pen pal' on there. Of course, we have since lost touch. But, it was cool to be able to correspond with others without having to write a letter and wait for them to receive it in the mail; or if you wanted to talk for hours you didn't have to worry about your ear going numb or your arm tiring from holding the phone so long.

In recent years, e-mail seems to have nearly faded out as a source of keeping in touch with others on a personal level. Especially with the advent of text messaging on cell phones and numerous social networking sites.

I personally, wish that wasn't the case. I rarely check my email anymore because there is nothing to look forward to other than a bunch of forwards. I get actual emails on the occasion from a few people. I check email to make sure a payment went through or something of that sort, but even then I can do that from my phone. Don't get me wrong, I love having email at my finger tips when I am on the go and being able to respond quickly via a text, but it still is not as personal as an e-mail or even more so, a hand written letter.

When I moved to Murfreesboro, TN for school I of course kept in touch with family through phone calls, but some of us also e-mailed & Instant Messaged. Then, I wrote letters back and forth to my Great Aunt, Great Uncle, and one of my cousins. Writing those letters was a lot of fun and really meant a lot to me. I can remember always looking forward to checking my mailbox in the KUC to see if I had letters or packages. :) I still have a letter from each of them today that I kept, and I will keep them for many years to come.

Even though we live in such a fast paced world, we always need to make time to keep in touch with those that mean a lot to us. Family, friends, it doesn't matter who they are, and even though I miss email being popular it doesn't matter how you keep in touch as long as you do!