Something Worth Writing Home About
The other evening, I was standing over the sink, zoning out with the zen of hand-washing dishes. Mid-zen, my wife walks in the door and kisses me on the cheek. My subconscious asks the customary question: “how was your day”?
She replied, “Oh, nothing worth writing home about” and heads into the bedroom.
I raised an eyebrow at the oft-used expression and shrugged it off.
As I often do with words, I spent the next 10 minutes over-analyzing the idiom until conceding to let the internet tell me what it meant.
The definition defines it as something being “ordinary or remarkable”.
According to dictionary.com, “[it] originated in the late 1800s, possibly among troops stationed far from home, and became widespread during World War I.”
Picture a soldier after a long day trudging through the conditions with heavy equipment, constantly on edge and unsettled thinking of troubles potentially looming around the corner.
That soldier might be relieved to get back to camp and want to share his experience with his wife back at home. Certainly something worth writing home about.
Now imagine the wife that letter is addressed to. I presume she would want to know about more than just the unnerving parts. Wouldn’t she want to know if her husband was sanguine? What he had to eat? If he was sleeping alright? Anything that might give her some feeling of closeness or comfort, really?
For her, being unable to have the luxury of daily, free-flowing communication with a loved one; unsure if she will ever get to speak to him face-to-face again, there is always something worth writing home about. No matter how ordinary or remarkable.
Pay special attention to the people that willingly listen to your tinder nightmares or your strange people watching stories at Starbucks. Those that care about the humdrum of your day.
For those that genuinely care about you, there’s always something worth writing home about.
