LOST TRADITION REVISITED

I use to send postcards to my students whenever I took a vacation somewhere.
I would send each student a card... and in my "richer"-aka childless days, I might even get them all a cheap shirt from NYC, the 5 for $10 ones. It wasn't to show off where I had been, it was to let them know that I was thinking of them and there was a whole world outside their door.

As an immigrant family, we didn't take many "big" vacations. My parents worked hard to provide us with the things we needed, and there wasn't a lot of extra left over. They didn't learn to drive until we were teens, so Greyhound was our friend. Out of town vacations were limited to San Francisco, to visit my aunt, and once or twice in my childhood, we went to Disneyland. Mind you, they didn't really speak English, so I can't even imagine how they pulled the Disneyland trip off!

Later on, we expanded our vacation destinations to Las Vegas, which remained a favorite place for my parents.

Writing and sending postcards wasn't that hard when you are traveling alone. It was a nice way to reflect after a day of exploring and I was happy to share it with my kids. I made my own teen son buy, write, and send over 25 of them when he was in London last year- a request you must fulfill when your mom buys you a ticket to London. I don't think it had the same effect on him.

Things change when you "vacation" with young children.  I took a break from postcard writing.

Several years back, I received a FB friend request from a student from my first class nearly 30 years ago. She surprised me by posting a picture of a postcard I had sent her when she was in 3rd grade! She had saved it all these years.  It reminded me again of why I love sending postcards to students.

So this summer, traveling with now older children, I started the tradition again.
I found out that a postcard stamp is now .35 cents. (It was .14 in 1986)
I found out that my hand still gets tired after writing 24 postcards.
I found out that I am just as excited about mailing them, as I hope my students are about receiving them.

There is a world outside your door!