In considering what about my life I would save for posterity, I realised that while I love period movies, old architecture & baroque music, I have largely embraced technology & all the conveniences they afford. Even the last stronghold, print books, have been replaced by my iPad mini.
There is still one thing which I strongly believe is better done the old fashioned way: writing. Loving Husband & I write letters to each other regularly. There is something special about penning a letter instead of sending an email or SMS (which we do plenty of as well for more mundane communication).
Loving Husband & Older Daughter are huge fans of fountain pens: the former using them mostly for writing, the latter for artistic & decorative pursuits (her latest kick being a return to calligraphy). I think they like the feel of the nib moving over the paper, the rigours of refilling & cleaning their pen collection.
Loving Husband and I are not handwriting experts (although he is a special needs educator and has seen lots of children with writing issues), but we have considered at great length what this generation of children are losing by not writing as much as a lot of their work is done on the computer. We have wondered whether the physical act of writing actually builds neural pathways which come only from hours of repetitive writing (eg. cursive writing exercises).
Over the past decade, Loving Husband has made it his mission to gift as many people (mostly our godchildren & his students) with fountain pens – it is his mission to encourage the mindfulness and sense of importance that comes with writing with a beautiful instrument. It is his way of preserving the important craft of hand writing for posterity.
All things bright and beautiful 
In my special ed classes, we do both. We also practice writing “thank you” notes and friendly letters to those we appreciate.
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What a wonderfully practical way to write and forge bonds at the same time! Yay, you!
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This is great! I love fountain pens! I have four on my desk at all times… two black… one blue… and one red. They are all I need. It disturbs me greatly how here in the USA so many school systems are doing away with the teaching of cursive writing. I think it is a tragedy. We’ll be raising a generation of persons who can’t even sign their name! And I am also disturbed at the loss of proper grammar and spelling that we find in “modern communication” such as emails and texting. It is truly a different time in which we live… and I am not convinced a better one!
Galen
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Sigh, I hear you. I really can’t cope with text-speak: takes me forever to decipher even short messages!
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I love fountain pens! It somehow feels more natural to write with a fountain pen than a ballpoint pen.
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This is a lovely, interesting tribute to fountain pens and writing by hand, two things quickly disappearing from our culture. I liked learning that you and your husband to write letters to each other. I treasure the letters I’ve received over the years from my parents, my oldest brother, my husband, and both my students and their parents. In my opinion, email and texts don’t equal handwritten letters.
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Writing with fountain pens feels so much better than writing with ballpoint pens. It is one of those things you cannot understand without trying. When I have to write with regular pens I feel such a big difference, it’s like something is missing.
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Absolutely! In some ways, our household is still very old-fashioned.
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