epis·to·lary [\i-pis-tə-ler-ē,
e-pi-stȯ-lə-rē\],
adjective, 1: of, relating to, or suitable to a letter;2: contained in or carried
on by letters; 3
: written in
the form of a series of letters
Maybe it’s the fact that I am finally reading
– loving – lost in A.S. Byatt’s phenomenal Possession: A Romance. Maybe it’s that every day I barrel head first, sans helmet, into the when-I-was-your-age/I-remember-when-a-slice-cost-a-dollar/get-off-my-law/grumble-grumble-grumble
territory. Maybe it’s the daily, dreary delivery of bills, catalogues, credit
card offers, political pamphlets and other boring forms of tree-killers. But –
I miss
letters. I miss sending and receiving them. I miss the lost art of telling and being
told a life story in truncated chapters lasting weeks, months, years.