Tweeting Isn't All That New

One of my favorite authors is Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz. I highly recommend it. One day when I was visiting his blog I noticed the invitation to send a text to a particular number so I could get a text each time he updated his blog. Seemed like a good idea to me, particularly since it promised that they wouldn't update me every time Miller is taking a shower. So I sent a text to the number and waited for the first update. Kinda wish I hadn't done that. I get about 8 texts a day from Miller. This is how I was introduced to Twittering. I was so annoyed at one point that I replied to one of the updates. The update read something like,

"Going to the movies tonight. Don't know what I'm going to see. Haven't been to the movies in months."

So I responded, "See 'Taken.' My wife and I loved it."

About 5 hours later I received a text that read, "Thanks for recommending 'Taken.' Neeson makes a great hero."

I thought that was kinda cool so I shared it with my brother, who also appreciates Miller's writing. Well, he decided to say that I have a bromance with Miller. My wife heard what he said and now every time my mobile phone chirps she says, "Who's that? Your bromance?" Usually it is. Now that I get his blog updates via RSS I can end the twittering relationship, but I don't know how. If you do, please leave me a comment below. Yes, I realize its probably easy, but techy stuff doesn't come easy to me. So shut it.

This twittering and social networking is neat. It took me a while to "sign on" so to speak, but I'm glad I did. I enjoy keeping in touch with people I wouldn't usually be calling or anything. But as much as I like it, I wonder if we have lost anything with the advance of such technologies. I was thinking about this as I was going through some old letters last night.

If you haven't heard, my grandmother on my mother's side passed away on April 7. She was 83 and had been in decline for several years. So while we were a little surprised when it happened, it's not like we were shocked. Grandpa passed away on April 6, 2006, so it kind of brought a joy to my heart to know that she wasn't living without him anymore.

In 1989 when my grandfather was voted into a new position within the Nazarene Church. As the Commissioner of Nazarene Higher Education he would be moving to Kansas City, MO to his new office at Nazarene Headquarters. We began to pack up grandma and grandpa's house. The basement and attic were full of what I thought was just old junk. TONS of old stuff. We didn't really go through it, but packed small boxes into larger boxes for the move. Well, with the passing of grandma, we're finally going through those old boxes. Actually, grandma and grandpa have moved at least three times since then, each time into a smaller residence so more of their stuff was packed away into boxes. My sister did a lot of sorting of their stuff when they moved into an assisted living community and tried to cut down on the amount of things. However, there was still a lot of really old stuff to go through when grandma died. So my mother, aunts, and uncles have begun to unpack those boxes, redistribute the various family items and get rid of the trash. It can be difficult at times. You know all those awards and plaques of appreciation people get though out their life? Apparently the saying is correct; you can't take them with you when you die. We have boxes full of awards and plaques my grandfather received. Some of them we're going to send to the archive departments at the institutions that gave them to him, but frankly, we're throwing some away if nobody in the family wants them. I was looking through them and thinking, "Awww...this is really great. Grandpa was so loved, but what the heck am I going to do with this 'Thanks for 15 years of service to Eastern Nazarene College' paperweight?" So we get rid of some "nice" things. There are so many things we're trying to figure out what to do with. Fortunately, our family is really good about sharing their trinkets and such. We're not really the type of family that argues about such things...yet, we'll see. But there are some things that are priceless.
I have sitting to the left of me an eight-inch stack of love-letters that were written between my great-grandfather Floyd Nease and his wife, my great-grandfather Madeline Nease. Most of the letters are double sided. It's really fascinating, because it's like I'm getting a look into the day-to-day lives of my ancestors. It's like they were twittering almost 90 years ago and I get to follow along. It seems different than today's communications. It makes me wonder how it'll be in 90 years when my great-grandson is going through my stuff. It probably won't take long.
I've decided to take it upon myself to type out all of these letters. I figure some other people in the family might like to read what they say. And besides, maybe at the end of the task I will have found the inspiration to write a novel that makes Nicolas Sparks look like an amature and makes The Notebook look like The Cat in the Hat. HA!
I'll be starting with a diary from great-grandma that begins before they're married and ends rather abruptly. I've had it for a few years, but I didn't know where the story went. Perhaps I'll find out now. This will be a daunting task for a few reasons.

1. It's a lot of letters even without the diary. Like I said, it's a stack about 8 inches high of two-sided, mostly hand-written (a couple are typed) letters spanning about a decade. (Great-grandpa died suddenly at the age of 35.)
   
2. They're not in order.
3. They're not all dated. And even if they're dated, I still need to figure out which letter was written first if there is more than one written on one date. For instance, on the morning of August 7, 1930 Madeline writes a letter so she can get it in the mail before the postman comes. Later that day, she writes another letter which begins,
   "Honey: This is one time where I'd be inclined to say you did not use good sense." This opening comment had nothing to do with the last letter, leading me to believe that she received a letter in the mail from Floyd and is writing a response. I haven't seen Floyd's letter yet. When I do, I'll need to fit in into the right spot- assuming the letter still exists.
4. Great-Grampa Floyd had terrible handwriting. It's often very difficult to read.
   
5. Old-speak. There are terms that they use that I'm not familiar with. It's difficult to know sometimes if I'm writing the correct words or if I just can't read the writing.
6. Did I mention there is a lot of letters?

I'm terribly worried that I'll damage these letters while I'm reading them. The paper is super dry and brittle. I'm going to have to be careful with them.

At any rate, I think this is going to be very meaningful for me, and hopefully for the rest of the family. The bag in which these notes were stored within the box had a note on it. The note read:

You may not understand all these but it will help you to know your Daddy + Mother better and to know we always loved each other.

Faded old love letters

For Stephen [my grandfather] when he is 21 then for Helen [my great-aunt] when she is 21.

I'm not sure they ever read these letters. Auntie Helen is still alive and well. She actually got married again last summer! So perhaps she'll get to read them if she hasn't. Here's to seeing how the task goes.

Still Tweeting, after all these years.