Our current situation has ushered in a level of uncertainty and stress. I am with you and understand. But it’s also welcomed more downtime to reflect, relax, and recalibrate this journey called life.

Chances are you have a box of stationery or note cards that rarely see the light of day. Maybe you get them out when you need to extend gratitude with a thank-you note. On the flip side, when was the last time a personal note arrived in your mailbox—one that wasn’t expressing gratefulness for your sweet gesture or sending you wishes for another trip around the sun?

Remember the excitement when you perused the mail and recognized the handwriting on the envelope? The old-school style of a grandmother, the structured architectural printing of a type-A friend, or that messy scribble of your friends at sleepaway camp who churned out letters during quiet time? I have such fond memories of childhood and writing letters just for fun. In seventh grade, I had a drawerful of brightly colored notecards from “paper by the pound” and heaps of Mrs. Grossman’s stickers. My best friend only lived a couple of miles away, but we regularly sent letters covered in stickers and colorful doodles back and forth by mail.

Names like Helvetica and Times have replaced those individual handwriting samples. And while the words executed with these fonts may be personalized, the aesthetic of an email or text is not. In past weeks, we’ve embraced new ways to socialize over computer monitors. So why not revisit the lost practice of corresponding with handwritten notes?