Dried Ink

 I started writing some of my blogs in cursive in a notebook. My thinking is that action will add value. I have always found hand written items to be far more personal. I do think it is something falling by the wayside with the rush of technology. When was the last time you sat and wrote a letter ? I have written little more than a note in years. Sentiments expressed inside a Hallmark card do not carry the same weight as ones scribbled by a child. I'd say that was true of adults as well. I do try to include more than a signature when sending greeting cards. It is that expenditure of time that I am trying to convey. To let the recipient know that I spent more time than just signing my name on the bottom and sealing the envelope shut. That is the time I spent thinking about you.
 The issue I face is my penmanship is atrocious. I remember being graded on that in elementary school. I do believe that ended somewhere around the fourth or fifth grade. All that was well over fifty years ago and so my memory is a bit faint. I do recall learning to write in cursive and it was a big deal. I also remember when it didn't count anymore and that was just fine. Later on we were required to submit our essays and term papers typed and double spaced for the ease of the teacher. I can understand the necessity of that from their standpoint. I wonder though if we shouldn't have been made to submit those papers in cursive, legible and double spaced.
 Some time back I thought to take up calligraphy. That lasted about a week or so. It is far more tedious than I thought. I'm always in too much of a hurry to put my thoughts down. I'm thinking that is why that writing was developed by monks. It does take the patience of a saint ! Really though I've known a few people that were quite skilled at that. I noticed that these people were also artistically inclined. So that explains that, I have no artistic ability whatsoever. Now I'm thinking I will just keep writing in cursive and try to develop it to a point of legibility. I have notebooks full of thoughts and scribbles around my house. Finding examples of my handwriting wouldn't be a difficult thing. Handwritten notes, letters or cards from other members of my family are quite a rare thing. I have a postcard written by my Grandmother that is a true treasure. Written to her father when she was about ten. With that dried ink on an old postcard she has connected with me. She passed long before my birth. There are examples of Great Grandmothers writing on the back of old photographs.
 Those things did bring an awareness to me. A friend published a book using letters that she found in her attic. All written by hand and written to loved ones. Obviously cherished they became a gift. Maybe that is why I feel a desire to hand write some of my blogs and poetry. If they are handwritten perhaps they are more likely to be saved, Typed and printed documents do seem more expendable for some reason. I think that is what bothers me, that expendability. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust the Bible tells us and you can't refute the validity of that statement. There is a permanence to dried ink. Doesn't make any difference if it is on parchment or a postcard the words written there take on a deeper meaning. Ink has the ability to capture emotion in a way we can't understand. Is it time that is captured ? That period of time, when the words were written, is time shared with whoever reads it. You know it rates the title of manuscript only when it is handwritten. Manuscripts just sound so formal, impressive wouldn't you say ? I will leave a manuscript for future generations. Hope they can decipher it. Well by then they will have a computer program to do that.