When Bing Sent Me an Envo-Gram
My Dad, Bing, wrote me a heartfelt letter just after I started college.
You can call him Bing; everyone else does. I remember a big smile spreading across my face when I saw the yellow Envo-Gram delivered to my freshman dorm. I was seventeen and away from home for the first time. For my parents, I was the first kid to leave the nest. Hearing he was proud of me and wished me a great adventure sent me on my way. I listened and continued on that adventure while I was at Auburn.
An Envo-Gram is a unique and entertaining way he used to communicate because his handwriting is, well, not so great. Creating an Envo-Gram involves typing a letter on a computer, which results in printed carbon copies with perforated edges. Yes, I said “carbon copies with perforated edges.”
This communication was, in many ways, pretty advanced for the time.
I keep precious memorabilia like this letter and appreciate its message now more than ever. Now my kids leave “voids of chatter” as they graduate from school, get married, and even buy their own homes. I admit I want more noise, chaos, activities, and surprises like the ones they brought, too.
I love you, too, Dad.
An Envo-Gram carbon copy letter from my Dad, Bing, sent to me, dated September 13, 1987.
