The "Big Letter"

I remember as a teenager in my parent's house a big tattered and worn enevelope would come in the mail to my dad about once or twice a year.

Let me pause and ask a question that I sometimes wonder: What did people do before Weblogs? As in the whole "I am going to write something for my friend and relatives to read and they can comment on it. And then the same for them - to write something that I can read and comment on." People kept journals, but those were private. Some could write a letter to the editor, but that's usually not personal.

This "Big Letter" (that is what it was called in our family) that would come in the mail to my dad is the closest thing that I can think of the the modern day weblog. It was the rudimentary analogue version of this new digital medium.

Whenever my dad got this letter, he had the look like he just got an unexpected Christmas present a few weeks late from a great aunt. He would take the letter over to the dining room table and open it up on its clear flat surface, because for the next week that table would hold the contents of the letter.

What is the letter and how does it work? I wasn't really all that interested in it at the time. It was a family letter and I really didn't care about Great Aunts who I've never met. To my recollection I think the letter worked like this:

• It was a letter for the family to keep in touch.
• There was a sheet with a list of family names and addresses which served as the queue for who you were to send the letter to next.
• People are counting on you if you don't send to the next person, then the letter is dead.
• Everybody writes their own letter and includes pictures of events, grandkids, graduations, etc.
• When the letter comes back to you. Remove your previous letter and add your new one.

I think those were the basic guidelines. It seemed like as it got going people would comment to others in there new letter. "Gertrude, we are happy that Stan is liking his new hobby of model trains." "Mabel, we enjoyed the pictures of your new house on the Puget Sound. We just might take you up on your offer and come visit."

Of course my dad had a really great time with it. The list of people were long and I don't know if he knew every relative on that list. The best is when he played a "little trick" (maybe an alter ego) by including Thomas and Mary, the retired missionaries. They were real missionaries, but not related to the family. He had just come home from church were they spoke and he had one of their "prayer" cards. He included their card and wrote a convincing letter from them, including nice comments to everyone and asking important questions. "How did Doug's hip surgery go? We have been praying for them." He even added their name to the list with a fictious address, but he put their name on the queue right after my dad's sister (in town), so that he could slip in a letter and keep the joke going. I think everyone fell for it, because when the letter made its way back, others had included them in their comments, but were a little confused on who's cousin they were related to and couldn't remember meeting them a the Family Reunion ten years ago.

I went off to college and I kinda forgot about that letter until now. I don't think it is still going. Maybe they are all blogging, but I highly doubt it.