Dear friend,

Who are your “letter friends”? Who are the people you might rarely text and seldom call but would happily write a letter every now and then?

I suspect many of us have these friends. There’s a whole genre of relationship best served by something that has largely disappeared: a medium with a slower pace and room for depth.

A friend reminded me recently of an idea I had many years ago to “slow down email,” to make it feel more like writing letters. So we built something to try it out. We call it Dear Patience. The concept is simple: you claim an address on our domain, and anything sent to that address is held for a few days—with a little note that something’s on the way—then delivered to your real inbox. It adds back the “good friction” of waiting.

So how do you start? Just sign up with your name and real email address and claim your @dearpatience.com address. Then ask a friend to email you there, or send them a letter by inviting them from your account page. After that, all you need is email, and a little patience.

Sincerely,
Daniel

P.S. Dear Patience is free. We hold your letters only until they’re delivered, then delete them. Backup copies expire within a week.