Fireflies // if you give a girl an Etsy...
what if we could send fireflies through the mail in boxes like butterflies
Welcome to Fireflies, the recommendations letter that arrives around the First Quarter of each moon cycle. This is the one where Addison makes you hold all the things she likes gently in your hand – like a small child who keeps bringing you leaves at the park.
Hey you! Happy frickin new year! Do you feel like a reinvented person yet? A whole new version of yourself who has never said anything weird and off-putting in casual conversation? Someone who exercises the exact perfect amount so that strangers who have opinions on your body always phrase them with envy? Or did you already give up on the resolution you made at the last minute because that’s not how humans work?
The witchier among us prefer to celebrate the season of rebirth in the spring, you know, when the rest of the planet is also awakening thanks to the restoration of our giant vitamin D pill in the sky. And since this newsletter purports to orient around the calendar(s) of the natural world, I’m going to follow their lead and continue hibernating until the spring thaw. Which arguably could’ve been New Year’s day in New York since the temp hovered around a disturbingly balmy mid-50’s for most of the day. Whatever! Wake me up when the sun is on line 2.
On a note of mild productivity, however, I did manage to write three letters today that I’ve been procrastinating since last summer, last autumn, and last week. It was one of those things that took 15 minutes to actually do, but six months of inner cajoling to begin. I will learn nothing from this and you will never hold me to it.
I know it’s cliché at this point to extoll the virtues of snail mail, but sometimes clichés are cliché because they’re true. Don’t you get excited when you see your handwritten name floating in a pile of utility bills?! Wouldn’t you like to spread that little spark of joy to someone you love while supporting one of the few government resources Americans still have access to?
Here are a few easy, accessible stationery enhancements to help you make contact with the real world, and whoever is on the other end of the address on the envelope.
Something you’ve probably already noticed about me; I am an Etsy girl, to the core. I have lists upon categorized lists of vintage tapestry handbags, French bistro match strikers, and really cute letter-writing sets squirreled away for future use. Might I suggest a medeival epistle style? Or perhaps something with a little more old-world glamour? Maybe a telegram written in morse code, or just something lovely and earthy to look at on long winter days. The options are as endless as your willingness to scroll.
Forget the old blue ink or black ink debate — we are not in high school and your history teacher isn’t docking points for using the wrong color on your essay about the plague. We’re mature now, and we want something a little sweeter, a little more grown, to send off to friends abroad (a different state counts as abroad rn according to plane ticket prices). Enter stage left: brown ink. Yes, seriously, buying pens with brown ink is one of the best choices I made last year. Don’t look any deeper into that, just trust me! Add some warmth to both our lives!
Since when did it cost an entire Benjamin Franklin to go home with three books?? I’ll be investing in my friendship community this year by loaning out books like a very specific library and requesting compensation in the form of literary exchange. To that end, I have secured a personalized ex libris stamp to avoid any potential property claim disputes. And this one gets red ink so they know I’m deadly serious.
Wash-on, wash-off, washi. Washi tape is such a *squeeze* CUTE way to add some flavor to your epistolary creations, in whatever style you prefer. Plus, its softer grip won’t shred your letters when your friend rips apart the envelope because they never invested in a letter opener. I can suggest the watercolor trees, strawberry, and cherry blossom variety.
One time I sent my friend a present with a piece of Ponsont incense paper slipped inside the card, to add some fragrance as well as a little snippet of luxury for her bday. She and her boyfriend did not notice the Ponsont, but did notice where I wrote “incense paper” on the card, and just about burned the city down lighting tissue paper on fire in their kitchen. Do with that what you will.
Apparently stamps.com isn’t buying ads on every single podcast anymore, but they do require a membership now?? I prefer to get my stamps the old-fashioned way; my mom gives them to me unprompted when I’m visiting by asking, “you want some stamps?” while I’m digging through childhood memorabilia in my room. My personal favorites are the delicately-illustrated songbird stamps that also happen to be ‘forever stamps’ (I don’t know what this means and I’m uninterested in finding out) that remind me that I am indeed aging because why do I suddenly care, like, SO much about birds? Geese are chicer than swans and they’re way less obnoxious about it. Swanheads can find their newsletters elsewhere.
Finally, I would encourage you to acquire a personalized return address stamp, for the letter you send to remind your loved one to mail that book back already.
Shoutout to the four people who sent me snail mails during the first month of COVID lockdown — I actually still have them and might text you soon to get your updated address since that was three whole ass years ago. Who knows! It’s a new year! Anything can happen if you just believe!
Check out last month’s Fireflies if you’re still in a festive mood. P.S. I’ve decided to let this normally-paywalled edition fly free for all; consider it a hibernation blessing, and bombard my inbox with praise if you’d like to extend my holiday spirit <3
Epistolarily,
Addison