About three years ago I found myself with a pen pal; she is my best friend’s grandma—weird relationship, I know. She lives in Florida and we began to email. I enjoyed it for several reasons, but especially because she was genuinely interested in my life. She asked all sorts of questions, added in her own life experiences, and told me about her cat Gary. At some point we began to write letters instead of emailing. Once a month I would find a letter, addressed to me, written with love. It’s nice that someone takes time out of their day to write out questions and responses to me, always adding Gary the cat’s daily doings. I send her pictures of what I’m up to, what I do in school and pictures of the town and my room. I was waiting in line at the mailroom last week and the kid in front of me said to the girl behind the counter, “Google told me that I can buy stamps here, is that true?” No one sends personal letters anymore and I think it’s a nice gesture. One of my friends recently joined the army. He sent his roommates a letter from basic training, because that’s the only way they can communicate for those nine weeks. It was really exciting to get a letter with his name in the sender corner of the envelope. Yes, it takes more effort than just sending a text, but I know we all get excited when we see something come in the mail with our names on it.
Find a pen pal and get writing!
HCXO,
Elizabeth