I have written a few birthday songs for my co-workers over the last couple years (OK, over 30, starting with this one).  They’re not great songs in the grand scheme of things, but they’re songs, and they’re for my co-workers.  The one thing that I have heard over & over is that people are just glad for the songs because nobody’s every written them a song.  This sits with me kinda funny because as a song writer some of my earliest songs were for people.  One of the first ones was for my ex-sister-in-law (before she was my sister-in-law, and well before she was my ex-sister-in-law).  She was having a down time and so I wrote her a song.  I’ve written songs for lots of folks, most of which have never been played in public, I haven’t even shared them with the people I wrote them for in most cases.

What I want to know from you is this: when someone writes you a letter, by hand, stamps it, mails it, and sends you a message, is it personally more significant than an email, even if it isn’t different in content?  Is it like a song where it strikes you as personal and powerful compared to a simpler happy birthday wish?