snail mail and the Internet

When I woke up this morning, I found my parents' bed littered with old greeting cards of all shapes and sizes, of different colors and designs.

Mother was busy rummaging through what seemed trash to me. "What are you doing?" I asked my ever busy mom who, to me, is the best testament of obsessive-compulsiveness.

She's recycling old cards, cutting and pasting pictures to make the cards new and ready for use again, she said. Christmas is approaching and she wants to send cards to friends and family here and abroad.

I don't understand, I told her, adding that she could simply send them greeting cards through e-mail.

She sighed in frustration, as if my suggestion was the most out-of-this world piece of advice I have ever given her.

The Internet, as she likes to quotes her amigas, has destroyed the spirit of sending letters, the fun of receiving snail mails and the excitement of opening sealed envelopes from different corners of the world.

The Internet, she adds, has also removed the pleasure of going through old letters and the fun of collecting stamps.

And so there she was, spending hours recycling old greeting cards to create new Christmas cards for her amigas around the globe.

There are things technology can never give, my mother is convinced.