Perhaps a little subset of correspondents—by which I mean, people who enjoy written communication—particularly favor postcards? If that’s the case, I’ve befriended a few such kindred spirits in my lifetime. And it’s hard for me to let an opportunity go by to indulge in some postcard love.
I have a pretty large postcard collection (in fact, I could practically open a stationery kiosk, if not store, this very minute). Although I own a more than ample amount of stationery, when my town’s annual “Sidewalk Sales” take place I have to admit, despite not needing more, I always scour a couple of favored shops in search of good deals on great stationery. Since having children, making cards and postcards from photographs or their artwork has contributed greatly to my collection, and I feel such tenderness each time I use a “vintage” homespun (with help from the local copy store) card. In recent years, I’ve given gifts of stationery and postcards to friends. This particular gift represents a personal win-win: I don’t really miss what I’m giving away, and I love sharing these objects I so adore.
Mostly, though, I love corresponding by old-fashioned mail and I find postcards a wonderful vehicle for communication. Guy Trebay recently wrote an article for Travel and Leisure pondering this question: have postcards have become “a tweet with a stamp?” I say a resounding no, although it’s true that I don’t entirely comprehend tweets, even though I do some tweeting. Trebay, with a penchant for vintage postcards of places travelled to, concludes the ritual of sending postcards from places—not tweets, not texts, not emails or status updates—allows for “summoning up those I care for and closing the distance between us with that banal yet sincere declaration, ‘Wish you were here.’” I think he’s onto something. The postcard is intimate, in that you are reaching out to the person (or persons, say, a family) but it’s intimate in a breezy sort of way, nothing heavy-handed, a pat on the back versus a huge embrace.
Like Trebay, I dutifully—joyfully—jot postcards from any trip, to the grandparents, to a few friends, and on. I look wherever I go for postcards with images of kisses to send to my kiss postcard correspondent pal, Weston, the one who sent me—in an envelope—the Trebay piece. I like my Florida flamingoes and manatees (I sent my mother a thank-you postcard from our shared Florida trip last month and after she got it, she remarked, of the manatee image, “You sent the best one!”) and seashells and dolphins snout to snout for my kiss-postcard correspondence. I like nifty images that aren’t of place (yet for my friend Michael, who collects and sends postcards of place, I have long kept a few favorites on hand for whenever I am moved to jot a hello to him, in far-off Alabama). I like sending a postcard to someone when s/he moves, to test out the new address and because new addresses deserve some mail. I might thank someone for inviting me to a party. I might communicate something like happy one-month of motherhood or some other moment of thinking of you-ness. Unlike an electronic message of any sort (although I love those, too), there is just a very personal aspect, even when the message is breezy or brief or not terribly intimate, to the postcard. In long and more intimate correspondences, a postcard can pretty much be a spot for anything, any news (more than one friend has shared news of a pregnancy on a postcard, and how totally delicious that is), or any emotion.
While some places have decided postcards aren’t financially worth their while, the Eric Carle Museum continues to stock a wide selection. Postcards, museum curator Nick Clark once explained, are “democratic,” in that they were affordable souvenirs, and thus a “perfect little memento” of a museum trip. Personally, I always try to have stockpile of Eric Carle postcards on hand, because well, they are so delightful. Recently, I also found a little link that addressed how postcards helped women get the vote. This to say, don’t underestimate the power of the postcard! As for me, all I really need, besides postcards and correct postage, is a favored pen (I choose Pilot razor points, most often black or blue).
