C is for Communication, 70s Style

 

I am in the process of sorting through everything in my parents' home, and in so doing, I have been looking through all my childhood memorabilia, the majority of which I hadn't seen since my parents packed up my belongings and moved them from the home I grew up in to this house some 45 years ago. My 2024 A to Z Challenge theme is based on the treasures I have found in the boxes and the drawers and closets. Join me on my bittersweet journey back to my childhood.

When my kids were in high school and there was a bit of gossip to be shared, it would be all over the school within seconds. Ever watched a teenager send a text message? They are lightning fast! 

When I was in high school, we disseminated information this way:

Notes.  We wrote notes to each other.

Was it fast? Not particularly. Depending on the class or the teacher, you might have to write it surreptitiously, your piece of notebook paper slid under your classwork or inside a book. (There was always THAT teacher who took tremendous joy in confiscating notes and reading them to the class, but most of them really didn't care; they were just glad we showed up.) Then, unless the recipient was in the same class as you, you either had to entrust someone to deliver your note for you or pass it to them in the hallway while changing classes. 

I found boxes and bags of notes in the back of the closet last weekend. We are talking HUNDREDS of notes, and I kick myself for throwing most of them away before getting a picture of all of them, but I did open and read every one of them.

My best friend and I were voracious note writers, and the majority of the ones in my closet were from her (more about Jane in an upcoming post). We wrote about what boys we liked (usually unrequited), the antics of classmates, upcoming plans together, and how boring class was. We had our own shorthand for extracurricular activities that may or may not have been legal and used initials and nicknames, some so obscure I couldn't remember who we were referring to at the time. 

At the risk of sounding really old, I will go on record as saying that, while instant communication definitely has its advantages, the time it took to write and pass a note more often than not kept angry or hurtful words from being delivered to someone in the heat of a moment. The repercussions of hitting "send" on a text are far reaching; the information included in the notes I received from my friends ended in a box in the back of my closet.