Cursive Writing – the lost art- by Janell, CAREGiver & guest blogger

I recently came across a stack of letters in my closet. I immediately knew they were from my grandmother because of the cursive handwriting ~the big loops and graceful flourishes that made her handwriting distinguishable to anyone who knew her. It dawned on me that my children most likely won’t recognize my cursive handwriting having seen so very little of it over the years. And sadly, their descendants may not even be able to decipher the elegant cursive handwriting of my grandmother’s age not having been taught cursive writing in school.

Some of my greatest treasures are the letters and cards from relatives who clearly personalized those items with their own distinguishable cursive skills –My friend cherishes a Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook in which her mother recorded the illnesses and vaccination dates of each child on the last blank page in her own hand. Another friend, treasures a family bible that has births and wedding dates carefully recorded in the most elegant of cursive writing. And who hasn’t seen grandma’s recipes box stuffed to the brim with handwritten recipes passed down through the years?

Today, we preserve so very little that is in our own print – let alone cursive writing. The digital age has given way to digital signatures on documents. Recipes are housed online in files on our computers– rarely printed out in this paperless age. Love letters are now short enough to be texted through the airwaves and simply deleted when the phone device is too full. Years from now, it will be disks that are archived not a stack of letters with multiple pages of carefully crafted words in handwriting that is unique to one individual. Somehow, I can’t imagine that those disks will have the same emotional attachment to their descendants as the personal style of a handwritten message.

"What special mementos do you cherish because of the cursive handwriting within and how do you plan to preserve those?"