There are relatives/family friends from back in the day that Ive never forgotten, etc that each year I send a Christmas card to. In the recent years, they always mention to my grandparents when they see them that Im one of the few that they can always count on to send one in the mail and make them smile. I never fail either. (smile) I also still send Sympathy cards, Get Well cards, LETTERS to family that I only see perhaps once every 3-5 years in the mountain area of the state, Graduation cards to my younger cousins, Birthday cards to my Mom/dad/grandparents, Congratulations cards to recently married friends or a friend that just became a new mom along with a gift card inside for them to spend on new things they will need, etc. Even the gift cards (have replaced the old gift certificates with these that work more like a debit card so its hard to use the whole amount without spending extra PLUS the user cant just buy a dollar priced item using a 100 dollar gift card and get 99bucks back like back in the day of gift certificates haha) I choose to mail through the post office regular mail in a CARD with a handwritten note saying Im thinking of someone. My whole fam knows Im big on this, and always have been too. (lol) I even have the option of sending the gift cards I buy from stores websites via email to my friends but how impersonal does that feel? Very. I guess I am just old skool. And dont intend to change. Lucky I got down with using a computer much less the internet and email. I did get into Myspace when it was big and now have a Facebook I rarely check. But ONLY cos thats what EVERYONE ELSE IS DOING and if you want to hear from anyone else, thats the way! I am thinking back to May 2001 when my high school class received our graduation invites in the mail that wed each ordered to fold each one (outta 100s) into cards, place one of our chosen senior pictures inside, and then send it via mail. All of us did this and devoted a week to it, without ever fussing. That was 2001. I wonder what it would be like NOW? I had a friend get mad at me for not knowing she got married, and she said DONT YOU EVEN READ THE LOCAL NEWSPAPERS WEBSITE?! So I guess the internet is the only way Ill ever find out anything thats goin down in the world with those I love/know, etc. (Perhaps thats why my grandpa age 82 has Facebook, blogging, Twitter, even chatting thru instant message along with email too of course, AND hes done it better/faster than I! But hey, hes retired, Im the one thats been busy like crazy working since especially 2006!) Haha, so my old skool ways that some people adore, &others cannot seem to stand is growin rare! Makes me laugh, thinking of what 10yrs from now will be like!

Did you know that for SOME states (not mine or even yours yet, ugh!) have arranged a way for friends/relatives to communicate via the internet with people who are locked up? One of the sites that works for the state of TX prisons is called JPay dot com and if you send the email/write it and send for the cost of one stamp at the post office by a certain time each afternoon, the person is guaranteed to have it printed out and delivered at that days mail call. I read about JPAY's website and hoped that my state or someones I knew would be affiliated with it, but it was mostly states where I knew nobody at all like TX, out west, etc. You could also send money to their books/account through the website too. The fee was minimal and not expensive, no worse than a money order at the post office. I wish that every state would get going with JPAY dot com OR A WEBSITE like it because then there would be alot more communication going on THESE DAYS! Since the web is the way. I wish more prisons would learn about these especially here on the East Coast, cos it seems that only in states like FL, CA, and for sure the state of TX is big on JPay especially for those on DRow, and places where the DRow is hardcore seems to be where the prison/sometimes even county jail(s) etc aka the system allow the people to have e-mails sent in, printed out, and handed to them with any postal mail they also get, just as they would be during normal mail call ONLY THEY RECEIVE IT JUST HOURS LATER AND ON THE SAME DAY THAT friend/relative e-mailed them thru JPay's site! If I had it my way, a site LIKE Jpay or Jpay itself could be accessed by ANYONE willing to pay to shoot an e-mail to their relative/friend/loved one NO MATTER WHAT STATE THEY ARE IN OR WHAT PRISON ETC as long as they are willing to sign up for the website and join. Anywhere in any of the 50 states. There HAS to be something like that out there already, surely, cos it would make a killing considering that JPay only serves perhaps 3 states if that many. Plus its such an easy way to instantly send money to inmate accounts for so cheap. Im gonna do some research and see, wish there was one cos I know that the old skool postal mail thing is keeping so many new age un-old skool type of people from keeping up with others that are down and need them the most during that time, especially! -CC

Seems to me what I find mainly is that relatives or good friends of those who are down make an e-mail account for them, and each few days they print out any emails from people that read their personal blogs or pen pal ads etc and send them their own selves. THIS (Behind The Bars.org) is the first site I have found that prints and mails replies to those who post their blogs here. Thank God. I now plan on letting everyone I know know about this website since they are still reading at the blogs where a friend operates them for a person and comments get lost, etc. One friend got mad at the guy she was running a blog for and totally messed it all up just to be rude to him. He was locked up for 10-15 and what could he do about it?? He lost so many pen pals over that and didnt know why cos he didnt know what shes done! I think it was an ex who had came back into his life way after his lock up. It was over 2 mos before someone finally wrote him personally and said your personal blog that so-and-so was running on wordpress each week has been destroyed and gives the wrong address for you! Its been that way since like 2 months ago! This guy had to find someone else to quickly run a new blog for him, and was heartbroken that hed lost so many friends who thought they had lost him due to their comments being lost or not mailed ot even worst, responded to by the operator of the mans blog in a rude fashion and they thought it was him writing the words. I dont know if the dude ever got up and running again for sure after that, since so much was lost- photos, artwork for sale, etc. And the friendships and replies from such treasured pen pals who I cant believe thought he would ever type them such hateful stuff, I would have known instantly that the blog had been hacked into or the operator was on an angry hellride against the blogger. So sad. Just shows how unhappy people truly are when they show such cruelty in that way. -CC