This past weekend, Laura and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary!! It was a small and lovely event that we catered and managed ourselves in order to save some money AND make the dishes and experiences we desired. From mango salsa for the salmon to a few games of mahjong, we enjoyed ourselves and the company.
Friends came in from the city and flew in from out of town. Family drove from other states or jumped on planes to be here with us. We talked, listened to music, and enjoyed each other’s company from Friday to Monday when the last folks flew out. It was low technology, high human interaction, and I loved it. Yes, my introverted self was yearning for oxygen and my energy battery was blinking rapidly by the end of it, but many people chipped in by washing dishes, cooking meals, setting up, and taking over small responsibilities. It was a community effort and I was surrounded by people that loved me and that I loved.
I could send thank you text messages to each of them or emails, but that just doesn’t feel inline with the experience or how I want to be in community with others, so I wrote letters. I realized during the process that my brother and his amazing partner have a lot of A’s in their collective names, Nayanna and Jamaal. Three A’s each!! I realized that I didn’t have updated addresses for some and that my address book (an Airtable file) was missing a few people. It took a couple hours to write thoughtful messages to each of them, handwrite the addresses, and stamp them. This effort isn’t an act of work, it was an act of love. To put my pen to paper and carefully think about them and concisely share my thoughts, this is love. I don’t do this for many people, but for those that I do, it is because I deeply care about our connection, I deeply care about their wellbeing and spirit. I love them!
While AI can write an email or correct a proposal, it will never be able to convey the love I have for my friends and family. Human intelligence is the foundation of love and using simple technology to convey it; a pen, paper, shared experiences, enjoyable memories, and time, is a joy for me to do.
I’d hug them, but they are so far away…so these letters are hugs by mail!
Hello, I am Shelton. 