In Praise of Envelopes

Scattered around the house, until I finally gathered them in one place, were a number of pretty, well-decorated pads of paper in various colors. Some are aqua with little sprigs of white flowers in one corner; others are yellow, or pink, or off white with cute titles such as To Do, or Not To Do, with a row of colorful books at the bottom, below the hand-drawn lines. Some only say Notes in florid fonts. Some have bouquets in the corners and others have snowflakes along the borders. My favorite is the collection of library book cards that used to be found, stamped, in the back of every book. I never use any of these.

I also have a stack of journals I received as gifts. They come with nice covers and silk bookmarks, and beautiful pages, some lined, some not. I don’t use these either. When I travel, I take a plain black Moleskine journal, the small size, and it’s just the right tool for a short vacation, about a month or less.

For taking notes, keeping track of my to-do list, I use envelopes, plain white, usually used envelopes. I can’t break myself of the habit. When I get the mail the first thing I do is examine the envelopes, hoping for one that isn’t stamped or printed on the back, torn or stained. The envelope might end up with coffee spots on it, or smears of butter from a morning pastry break, but I don’t want it to begin that way. I want pristine, a pure white envelope calling me to list all the goals I have for the day, the list of things I believe, in my arrogance or delusion, that I will get done in the next ten hours. I can be very ambitious, and with small handwriting to accommodate the space, I can list a month’s worth of tasks on the back of a No. 10 envelope.

When I think about it, I admire my smarts in choosing this disposable vehicle for my ultimately disposable thoughts. The item is plain, it fits neatly into my hand, and there’s room on the back for additional notes and clarification. Because the No. 10 envelope, a standard size, is 4 1/8 in by 9 1/2 in, it is roomy enough for a clear statement of the task but not so roomy that I’m tempted to get wordy. There’s no point in a to-do list if it reads like a lecture or an essay. In addition, it folds neatly to fit into a pocket, and slides into my purse easily.

This week I cleaned my desk and found no less than seven (that’s seven) envelopes packed with things to do, books to read, household chores to get to, handymen to keep in mind for various repair jobs (I live in an old house), and writing ideas so terse I had no hope of ever figuring out what I had intended. That’s okay. I always tell myself if it’s a good idea, it’ll come back—several times—until I either get to it or discard it. I’d crossed out much of the items on each envelope, and as I read through the remainder I smiled at my plans, and was glad to let them go. I have new ones now.

There’s another reason I like envelopes, one that I rarely admit to myself. You can probably guess what it is, or who I’m going to refer to. In my quiet writerly life, I’ll never rise to the level of him, the great one, nor will I ever write anything so perfect as to be quoted decades or centuries after I wrote it. But here I sit, with my stack of envelopes honored by having its own desk drawer, thinking of what is possible with a simple envelope. The great man’s example is simple and can be summarized by anyone, and is always worth remembering and thinking on. Be direct, be honest, be brief. This is good advice for the writer, no matter what she writes on. Thanks, Abe.