Happiness is Here.

Since moving away, I have found myself developing any even greater love for writing letters. Sure; a phone call is grand, and shooting texts here and there can be a beautiful thing, but there is something extraordinary about the concreteness of a letter, the fact that you can physically hold it in your hands and take it all in and smell it and hug it and kiss it and throw it around and perhaps hang it up on your wall. There's something sensational about being able to go back through past letters; there's something so alive about them, and thus I tend to be brought to life in new ways every time I reread a good old letter.

So anyway, back to the point: I am all about writing letters these days. And then the other day as I was penning away to one of my best friends, a funny little idea came to my mind, and I thought, "Hmm. I kind of like that idea." Now letters, in & of themselves, are certainly something to behold, but what if they could be vamped up a little bit, taken to the next level? And that got me thinking. So I've begun this habit where I take a picture of where I am when I'm writing a letter and then I stuff the picture into the envelope right before I send it on its way. For example, when I was putting together my thoughts for this blog post, I was sitting in the sweet grass of the pine grove, reveling in the glorious afternoon sunshine as it sprinkled through the trees overhead. So I snapped a photo of it. Nothing extravagant, just a simple depiction of where I was at the moment, the view from where I sat. And that's what I've begun to do with letters.

It probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and even if it does, it may seem pretty dull at best. But here's my thought process. In a way, it's as though you're letting the recipient of your letter into your world, no matter how far apart you may be. It's like saying, "Hey, I like your company so much that I would love it if you could be here with me. And this is about the best I can do for right now." Sure, it takes quite a bit of imagination, but goodness, do I love the sentiment of it all. You see, essentially, you are currently sitting in the pine grove with me on the campus of Hope College, enjoying both a lazy afternoon as well as the quaint happiness that comes from time well-wasted. How cool is that? You're here. And I like that.

Yes, I will forever like the idea of being present, of being fully invested in where you are, of learning to accept that the present is the present. So I thought this would just be another way to invite people to be totally invested in the now. To not just read the words, but to be where the words were created. To meet me where I am. To soak up the moment. To savor the time at hand. And to be happy with the now. To seize it and hold it and cherish it and make the best of it. Be present, be alive, be invested in the current. Because after all, happiness is here.