The excuse, “We are so busy right now,” attached to a hastily taken family photo, was just not the same. The last bastion of letter writing had been co-opted with one click. My New Year’s resolution in January 2012 was to write 52 letters by hand, and send them via Canada Post.

At first, I spent 20 minutes a week writing a short, chatty message to an old friend or seldom-seen relative on a postcard. By December I had more than reached my goal. When January rolled around again, I found myself still making “letter dates.” No longer intimidated by the blank page, I wrote longer letters, enjoying my own personal reflection as much as the responses. By the end of 2013, I had written over 60 letters to people in eight countries.

In 2014 I wrote a letter to a complete stranger, letting them know how moved I was by the beauty of their garden. Weeks later I received a touching letter in which she described her passion, her neighbourhood, and the impact my letter had on her. The next time I was in Vancouver we drank tea together in her garden and started a friendship.

These days my minimum goal is 12 letters per year. The long-term connection that is built during a letter exchange is what keeps me going. Before I log in to Facebook I ask myself, “Have you written a letter lately?”

Emily Bulmer lives in Smithers, B.C.

This article first appeared in Geez magazine Issue 42, Summer 2016, Reading to Transgress.