John Adams -- Something to Hold on to

I won't lie: I meant to post this something like two weeks ago when it was fresh in my mind, but completely forgot to come back and edit my draft. Then when I was going to write about someone else and sporadically decided to delete any unfinished drafts out of a strange fit of organization (if you don't know me, these happen rarely if ever), and happened upon John Adams. I also realized that I no longer really had anything to say, but I liked my title so much that I couldn't delete it.

Personal vanity aside, I rather enjoyed the correspondence between John Adams and his wife, Abigail. There's just something about reading the personal communication between two (almost ridiculously) close people that is refreshing in a day and age where communication is so easy and long-distance communication so common place that such committment to writing letters blows my mind a bit. I know for myself I can't imagine having the presence of mind to write consistently to someone a continent away (I rarely remember to call my family when I'm at school for six months at a time, and they're only something like three states apart -- and really, how difficult is it to pick up a phone?) and then deal with the impatience of waiting for a reply.

The context of America's bid for independence from Britain and the subsequent development of a nation is also fascinating, but beyond the political scope John's letters to Abigail betray a relationship very much defined by love, and perhaps more striking because of that context. They reveal a humanity that we tend to forget when we consider the founding of this nation, and while the literary importance of these letters may still stand in contention, the profound depth of love and friendship between these two people does not.