Sincerely, Your Pen Pal

I  feel like my calendar is going crazy sometimes between ballet, soccer, lyrical, art club, and running club…and that’s just for my two kids. Once you add in my husband’s travel schedule and the few things that I need to do, I feel like the only time we communicate is on a screen.

However, there is one day in that always brings the best memories for me and that is my cousin’s Ashlee’s birthday. Even though as children we lived hours apart, we had a special bond.  

Ashlee was my pen pal.  

I shared so much with this special girl that almost shared my birthday. Many hopes and dreams, emotional struggles and boys…nothing was left out.

When we were able to spend a week together, usually about once a year, we never took time for pictures because we were too busy living, playing, and just enjoying hanging out with each other by the lake (pond) by her house. Honestly, we were all smiles, shorts and TAB soft drinks.

Now that my daughter is ten-years-old, I have tried to get her to find a pen pal, but to no avail. We are hours and hours away from our family in Texas, and I want her to be able to have the fun that a pen pal brings. But now in the time of insta-message, Facetime, email and texting, a written paper is not something my high-tech little girl wants to do.

I have to say that getting something in the mail (that’s not a bill) is kind of exciting for me. The whole month of December is full of Christmas cards and good will, we have smiles for miles from what our friends and family send. Why do we stop there? Electronic correspondence is quick and nice, but to me its a bit, well, digital. A piece of paper that is handwritten is like a good book. You know that time and work was put into it, and it makes you happy that someone put that much effort into you.  

So for 2018 I think I’m going to start mailing handwritten letters. Maybe I’ll even take a calligraphy class to make my letters look super fancy, or find some really neat stationary. Maybe I’ll even get a fancy pen that makes my chicken scratch look a little less offensive. My first letter will go to my sweet cousin, Ashlee. Even though we haven’t seen each other in years (other than on social media) I feel like she deserves the time worn art of a handwritten letter.

Maybe once my daughter sees the wonderful letters that I will receive back, she will jump on the pen pal wagon. However, I’m not sure when you move from pen pals to hmmmm… what do you even call ladies sending handwritten letters to each other? Letter writers? I just hope that the art of letter writing doesn’t die out with my generation. I feel like I’m in the middle of the greatest letter writers and the greatest texters of all time.  

For now, I’m going to put away my computer and focus on some paper and ink and see what happens.

Sincerely,

Your Pen Pal