Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Of Cabbages and ... Official Court Calligraphers?

The other day Hubby and I were at the local library (as is our wont) and we wandered into the book sale room (as is our other wont). I was browsing the children's paperbacks, and Hubby struck up a conversation with the elderly woman behind the register desk. As they spoke she lamented that none of her grandchildren really knew how to hand-write anything anymore.

"I mail two hand-written letters to my family and friends each week," I remarked.

She replied that I was the only person of her current acquaintance who does so.

"My mother-in-law does calligraphy," Hubby added.

The woman then told us that when she was first married, her husband lost her job just before the War. As she was looking through the classifieds she came across an ad for calligraphy lessons. She pointed them out to her husband, and he said why not?

When she showed up for her first lesson her teacher turned out to be newly emigrated from Austria. At age 89 his health was not what it once was, and his daughter had invited him to live with her here in the States. In fact, he had just retired from his post as the official royal calligrapher of the Austrian court--a position he had held from the age of 19!

Admittedly, "twice a week" was more of a descriptor of my top performance streak rather than my average. Inspired by her story, I have challenged myself to write a meaningful, interesting, entertaining snail-mail letter each day this month. And I'm going to blog about letter-writing just as often right here on this page.