I’ve been catching up on decades of movies via a free trial of Amazon Prime.  Last night, I watched  You’ve Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

The movie was released in 1998. I miss the 90’s, especially the clothes.  People wore practical, comfortable clothes, before cleavage and visible bra straps were in style.  I was having babies during that decade, and going through therapy.  I was also dealing with TMJ.  So it wasn’t all lovely, but still, I miss that decade.

The movie is a reminder of how far the Internet has come.  The two main characters use dial-up Internet to become electronic pen pals.  I was lucky enough to have Internet access at work, even back in the 80’s, so I avoided dial-up.  But with today’s WiFi, even the ISDN line I used seems quaint.  That’s the engineer in me speaking.

The humanist in me is fascinated by the email exchange that was at the center of the movie. It was a chance for the protagonists to be their best authentic self.  It felt like a form of journaling/self-talk, but with a loving witness that was not God.  Nora Ephron, who directed the movie and co-wrote the screenplay, was a genius.  Both characters realize how the anonymity of the Internet allowed them to be their kindest with a stranger (quite the opposite of flaming) and also find an intimacy with their true feelings about life.   Photo by Jonathon Narvey. 

Which brings me to the lost art of being pen pals.