It's been such a privilege to read your letters and they've sparked so many thoughts, not just the content of the letters but the act of letter writing. I have stacks of postcards and cards that I buy with the specific aim of writing and sending them to friends and relatives, yet I don't do it as often as I should or I used to, so happy your letter writing has potentially netted me a penpal....
Thank you Harriet, I'm so pleased you've enjoyed them and it has made you think about communication, more generally. Let's write more postcards and letters and cards... this movement could start with one small act, and that act is putting pen to paper. It's very simple when you think about it!
This is so beautiful! What a joy it is to read these letters as they highlight what many women feel: fear, apprehension and vulnerability as they discover the courage they have within their souls to write their cherished pieces in order to share with the world.
Thank you. I am grateful to both of you. And I hope you will indeed resume your letter writing in the spring. Your letters have deeply affected me, and their reverberating presence stirs something essential and alive inside me, inspiring my own journey in life and my own writing. That’s how it works. That invisible and impactful way we matter to one another. Bearing witness with our own sensitive presence. To be truly seen and to be “heard(sinc) into speech’ (referring to Nelle Morton’s beautiful idea of “hearing into speech”.) To speak with the power of presence activated inside. It is as if from both sides of the speaking/listening we can access some beautiful creative force that connects us. A liminal and perhaps essential force that flows, empowers, and activates the ‘aliveness’ within each of us. And it assists with our bearing witness to the confoundedness of being alive, with the pain, the joy, the constrictions, the expansions! And it is all of us, even though the details are unique for each.
I am a retired clinical social worker, retired from private practice. My husband and I are bent on traveling and writing. We divide our time unequally between an isolated spot in the Beartooth mountains of Montana where at night the clear canopy of stars reveal themselves with shocking brightness, and the sunny vineyards and medieval villages of southern France.
Journaling has always been for me a link to my intimate self, a meditation, a sacred space from which clarity and stillness comes (even though I may plead and sob and rage on the page). Seeing oneself on the page is a transforming, growing experience too. My husband and I have begun to write a newsletter on Substack, called “Temenos” (Ancient Greek for sanctuary space), where we explore matters of meaning and soul, and for me often the intersection of the natural world and my Self.
I am moved and inspired by your letters. Thank you. I look forward to reading your letters in the spring.
Thank you for these beautiful words, Stacy. I’m so pleased to hear how much you have enjoyed reading our letters, and so fascinated to hear what writing and journaling means to you and your husband. I must check out your substack, it sounds wonderful!
So grateful to you for writing and sharing with us. Anna x
Such lovely letters; thank you for sharing them. Wishing you all the best during your pause, for the creative projects you're pursuing, and hoping that you are able to come back in the Spring rejuvenated and refreshed :)
The letters have been beautiful to read, beautiful and with such an intimate feel. I hope you do return to it now then to catch up with one another in this epistolary way.
Here I am, in the daylight...actually under the wee sliver of moonlight 🌒 and I’ve only gone and bagged myself a pen pal in Lindsay Johnstone!
Yes! This is very exciting! please report back...
We shall...
It's been such a privilege to read your letters and they've sparked so many thoughts, not just the content of the letters but the act of letter writing. I have stacks of postcards and cards that I buy with the specific aim of writing and sending them to friends and relatives, yet I don't do it as often as I should or I used to, so happy your letter writing has potentially netted me a penpal....
Thank you Harriet, I'm so pleased you've enjoyed them and it has made you think about communication, more generally. Let's write more postcards and letters and cards... this movement could start with one small act, and that act is putting pen to paper. It's very simple when you think about it!
This is so beautiful! What a joy it is to read these letters as they highlight what many women feel: fear, apprehension and vulnerability as they discover the courage they have within their souls to write their cherished pieces in order to share with the world.
Thank you Rachel, I’m so pleased that these letters have resonated for you. X
Thank you. I am grateful to both of you. And I hope you will indeed resume your letter writing in the spring. Your letters have deeply affected me, and their reverberating presence stirs something essential and alive inside me, inspiring my own journey in life and my own writing. That’s how it works. That invisible and impactful way we matter to one another. Bearing witness with our own sensitive presence. To be truly seen and to be “heard(sinc) into speech’ (referring to Nelle Morton’s beautiful idea of “hearing into speech”.) To speak with the power of presence activated inside. It is as if from both sides of the speaking/listening we can access some beautiful creative force that connects us. A liminal and perhaps essential force that flows, empowers, and activates the ‘aliveness’ within each of us. And it assists with our bearing witness to the confoundedness of being alive, with the pain, the joy, the constrictions, the expansions! And it is all of us, even though the details are unique for each.
I am a retired clinical social worker, retired from private practice. My husband and I are bent on traveling and writing. We divide our time unequally between an isolated spot in the Beartooth mountains of Montana where at night the clear canopy of stars reveal themselves with shocking brightness, and the sunny vineyards and medieval villages of southern France.
Journaling has always been for me a link to my intimate self, a meditation, a sacred space from which clarity and stillness comes (even though I may plead and sob and rage on the page). Seeing oneself on the page is a transforming, growing experience too. My husband and I have begun to write a newsletter on Substack, called “Temenos” (Ancient Greek for sanctuary space), where we explore matters of meaning and soul, and for me often the intersection of the natural world and my Self.
I am moved and inspired by your letters. Thank you. I look forward to reading your letters in the spring.
Grateful & Inspired,
Stacy
Stacy Montaigne AuCoin, MSW
Thank you for these beautiful words, Stacy. I’m so pleased to hear how much you have enjoyed reading our letters, and so fascinated to hear what writing and journaling means to you and your husband. I must check out your substack, it sounds wonderful!
So grateful to you for writing and sharing with us. Anna x
Such lovely letters; thank you for sharing them. Wishing you all the best during your pause, for the creative projects you're pursuing, and hoping that you are able to come back in the Spring rejuvenated and refreshed :)
Thank you Holly, I’m sure we will both be posting other things in the meantime that you will find interesting. Thank you for reading 🙏🏼
The letters have been beautiful to read, beautiful and with such an intimate feel. I hope you do return to it now then to catch up with one another in this epistolary way.
We will return for another short series in the Spring, don’t you worry, Amy. I’m so pleased you’ve enjoyed the letters.