I just learned that after more than 150 years, Western Union will no longer send telegrams. E-mails have taken their place. I miss the idea that I'll never be able to send one to the people I care about. I have only two telegrams. The first is from my college roommate. She sent it the day before my wedding. The other one arrived the day I delivered my first baby. Telegrams are a little hard to follow because people used to use the word STOP instead of a period to end a sentence. For some strange reason, Western Union charged money for punctuation but not for the word STOP. Go figure.
My telegrams bring back happy memories, and I know that the people who sent them to me paid extra to add the punctuation. For 150 years Western Union telegrams were used to announce important events. When the Wright brothers made their first flight in 1903, Western Union told the world about it. And telegrams used to be dreaded during World War II. That was the way the War Department advised families that their loved one had died. My telegrams are happy ones. I just wish I knew my chance to send one was coming to an end STOP I would’ve sent one to everyone I love STOP