As an important tradition, we dined together every evening engaging in family conversation. Even when I worked late, my dear spouse would feed a holdover snack to our children until we could convene for the evening meal.

Every dinner conversation included a round table question: “What did you do today?” In that simple way, every family member took part in keeping the others abreast of current events, and in resolving any issues that may have arisen. I looked forward to those dinner conversations, so when each my children moved away to attend college, I felt an indescribable loss. To compensate, I wrote bi-weekly letters from home; mostly, in a conversational tone, mindful of our evening meal conversations. Their content mostly addressed humorous household and town events, with an occasional clipping to keep them informed. To be sure, I rarely received replies, except for a periodic telephone call; but that did not matter, because those letters met my perceived need to communicate with a loved one living afar.

My first-born relished my letters, but experienced difficulty in reading them. My once impeccable penmanship had deteriorated into a corrupted cursive handwriting.  Citing copious examples, she demonstrated that my handwriting used only twelve English alphabet characters, thus accounting for less than half of those available. For example, one character depicted the “a” and “o;” and another, the “e” “i” and “u.” The consonants fared no better, with one character serving as the “b” and “l”, the “h” and “k”, and the “r” and ‘v.” Still others approached a hieroglyphic, bearing little resemblance to any existing alphabet character.

With the persuasion of an advocate, she convinced me to purchase a personal computer, an uncommon household item at the time, to improve the readability of my well intended letters. Indeed, at her behest, I purchased my first computer, which not only enhanced readability, but also added two additional benefits: (1) spell check and (2) one-page letters.

My children looked forward to reading those letters, and surprisingly retained most of them. Now that they are grown and launched into their own families, I write my grandchildren short notes, untyped but in large block letters.  Few schools today teach cursive handwriting.