I have gotten many lovely expressions of sympathy by email; some from people I don’t even know. I am very grateful for all these notes and plan on responding to each and every one; the loving kindness comes through no matter what the format in my opinion.
If you wrote me an email condolence note I would appreciate if you’d send me your snail mail address so that I can send you a card. louise_crawford(at)yahoo(dot)com
A friend wrote yesterday:
Louise, I hope I’m not being tacky be emailing my condolences. I am truly sorry for your loss.
I wrote her back that I didn’t think it was tacky at all. In fact, it’s a quick and thoughtful way to make contact with someone going through a loss. The question is, what is the proper way to respond to these sympathy emails: with emails or, as is customary, with a thank you card?
I think that responding the same way as the message was sent to you (email for email, postal mail for postal mail) would be appropriate.