A Treasure From Times Past....!

A friend of mine sent me a very special gift the other day.

It wasn't anything special except to me. It was just a card with a handwritten note inside. Not machine printed, turned out on a word processor, or typed...handwritten!

Do you realize just how special that is? In an age when we don't seem to have the time to even make a phone call or a personal visit...a real live person made an effort to sit down and write a note, just to say hello! Not an email, not a line or two on a chat room, but a real, hold-in-your-hand, last for years type note.

And this wasn't on just any card, either! This card was a very special card because it was created by another friend of mine, a true artist! A beautiful photograph matted into a one of a kind card that is more a work of art than anything else! To have a talent to create something like this, a person must have an artistic soul! Creations like this have to come from inspiration born deep within the heart and inner being! It can't be bought, or taught, or faked! You either have it or you don't, and this lady has a very large portion of it hidden inside which, if we're lucky, she shares with us from time to time...for the sole purpose of adding a touch of beauty to our lives!

There was a time when folks actually wrote to one another. Thank you notes, letters of announcement, love letters to someone special and seldom seen. Many came from service men and women during the war. Many came from family just to let you know the current happenings of the extended family, and many came our way with no purpose except to say "hello, how are you". All hand written, addressed bu hand, with a real stamp on a real envelope. These bits and pieces of written history all included one very special gift. A gift more important than even we could imagine at the time!

Just what was this treasure so rare? What was the one thing given to us that could never be replaced by the giver? The gift of time! Once shared, it is irreplaceable. It can never be truly appreciated for long, for by it's very nature, time is a fleeting thing! However, with a written note or letter, that particular moment in time can be revisited by the simple act of holding it, reading it again, or merely looking at the envelope for a minute. Like I said...a real treasure!

Today I send out my very heartfelt thanks to both of these special people for giving me a small portion of themselves, a gift I can never match, a gift of their TIME!

Now, my friends, let's get some coffee and sit outside for a bit! That is, if you have the time...!