The other day I was looking through the old trunk for something and found some postcards and letters saved since the 1970's. Thoughtful, long, neatly written letters from friends and relatives, many on plain notebook paper.
Our mom was a prodigious letter writer, so maybe it ran in the family. But almost everyone sent letters and cards back then because long distance phone calls were too expensive. Remember dialing 0 and saying "I'd like to place a collect call?" (Usually, home.)
Being in touch 24/7 through a little handheld device was just something on Star Trek. We surely had longer attention spans then for reading, conversation and writing. Although in fairness, I could churn out a lot of letters in the hours I spend (waste?) each week blogging and brooding over news feeds.
2047 30th Street
San Diego, CA
Anyway, I found some letters in the trunk from 1975, sent to our apartment in the South Park area of San Diego. I'd forgotten the address, but lived there when I was an undergraduate at San Diego State. It was kind of a dump and surely the building would be long gone, like most places from my college days.
Oh, the double edged sword that is the Internet. I did a Google search on the address expecting to find a Target parking lot or something. But lo and behold, there it was, after all these years with a fresh coat of white paint. Four little one bedroom apartments; ours was the upper left. How long I've lived! So many memories came flooding back! (Remind me sometime to write a post about the marijuana plant in the kitchen window.)
There was a handy coin laundry right next door, now I see converted into the "South Bark Dog Wash." South Park, once a run-down area on the fringe of downtown San Diego, has become a toney neighborhood. Everything must change.
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