Yes, KrystaElyse and Jeruba, the loss of letters is so horrible, and its death occurred in my adult lifetime. I had many friends with whom I exchanged 20+ page letters regularly for years. Email is not the same.
I treasure letters that I have from my grandmother, father and sister, who are dead now.
Along with it, I mourn the loss of epistolary books like the charming 84 Charing Cross Road.
Cooking is one of my regrets too, cprevite. I have friends who raised their children without them ever getting a home cooked meal at home. They both worked, and they just took turns “picking up something for dinner” after the kids came.
I also agree about math ability. The other day a young checker in her 20s did math correctly in her head, and I was astounded. I realized how rare that has become so that I don’t even expect people to be able to add in their head.