Since the end of school I have been working on a major cleaning project at home, time to get rid of some things and get reorganized.

Among the projects accomplished was reducing and repacking better some stored boxes of letters. I reduced the total volume by about a third (junk mail? cancelled checks?) but did not get too radical and did not toss actual letters from relatives and friends. It is an interesting archive and one not likely to grow much as people just don’t send letters today.

One particular category of letter really caught my attention, letters from my horn teachers. Several of them are now deceased. Reading their words (often quite encouraging) I can hear their voice and treasure again the time and energy they gave me in my studies.

The written word has an impact that I doubt will be felt the same way with old E-Mail and Facebook posts. The letters from my teachers are in a special binder now, a personal archive of encouraging memories. If you are of a generation that sent and saved such things I highly encourage you to dig out the letters from your teachers and enjoy them while you can.