Feel Good Stories: The Emotional Connection of Letters

Nothing evokes the feeling of receiving a handwritten letter. Text messages and emails are great ways to communicate, but they do not quite match the feeling that a letter brings. You cannot hold a text message (unless you take a screen shot of it and print it) and you cannot hold an email, again, unless you print it. Both of these methods are wonderful ways to connect, but where they lack is how they “feel”.

The Unique Emotional Power of Handwritten Letters

When you receive a hand-written note or card whether it be a thank you note or thinking of you message – you feel connected. Your mind immediately brings you to the person the letter is from; what that person means to you. It brings that person into “your space” allowing that emotional connection to emanate through words on a piece of paper. The words also feel different on a letter. There is no glow of a blue light behind it, you do not have to zoom in to read it, you are holding that piece of communication. You can almost sense the time and care the sender put into writing it. That sense of shared connection isn’t easily replaced or replicated in modern, technology-driven communications.

Why Digital Messages Can’t Replicate the Feeling of Paper

I know how amazing it feels when I receive a letter. Whether it be from a little one practicing their handwriting or a letter from a relative that has passed on, that letter, that handwriting, that is what brings emotions. What is the last letter you received from a loved one or friend? Think back to it, how did it make you feel? Guessing it made you feel grateful, happy and you most likely definitely smiled to yourself reading it.

Check out the stories below of instances where letters mean more than a piece of paper with words.

USPS just delivered a letter from an American soldier in Germany. It was 76 years late. American soldier John Gonsalves was serving in Germany in the aftermath of World War II when he wrote a letter to his mother in Massachusetts in 1945. Last month, the U.S. Postal Service finally delivered the letter to his family — 76 years late.

When she sat down at her kitchen table to finish reading the letter, she almost felt like her late husband was in the room with her, she said. “It was a weird feeling — like he was standing there, reading it to me,” said Gonsalves, who was married to John Gonsalves for 61 years. “I smiled when I saw his beautiful handwriting,” she said. “I always loved how he wrote his E’s.”

Fairview first graders demonstrate interest in letter writing Fairview/Miss Jewell Elementary students in teacher Miriam Marczewski’s first-grade class are developing their writing skills thanks to a classroom writing station.

Student Miles Henry points to the birthday word bank to show ideas he can use and help him think about things to write. “I write letters and notes to my friends that say ‘I love you’ and ‘Do you want to come play with me,’” Henry said. “I am writing to my mom and dad because I love them and I am going to tell them in this letter.”

How Handwritten Notes Create Deep Personal Connection

Students expressed in their writing that Marczewski made them feel cared for and safe in her classroom. “The heart words are special words,” said student Kaylee Grimes. “You cannot sound them out and spell them that way, but you can figure the word out to write what you want to say.”