Among Friends

[lovesrecess]

Yes I had a pen pal that I got through a magazine. She was very nice and lived across the country from where I lived. We exchanged photos and exchanged letters for almost a year. One day the letter she sent was a nasty, profanity-laced diatribe so I never wrote her again. Headcase!

[viva923]

I sure do remember pen pals. I found a couple of them.

I can not remember where they were from. I would hide the letters in my dresser drawer, my mom would search till she found them and read them. She told me I had to stop writing to them because they wrote about guppies having baby guppies. my mom thought was bad for me to read.

I joined several groups trying to find good pen pals but everytime I wrote to people who interested me, they would tell me they were already taken by other pen pals. I just kind of gave up.

[blackhole99]

1965 I had a male pen pal named Horst from Germany, we communicated for awhile and then lost interest. After all these years, I wonder how he made out in life.

[Mominohio]

Yes! It was such fun.

I had a pen pal during late grade school, from Japan, and on an all summer trip across the United States, I met a girl my age from Brownsville Texas that I wrote back and forth with for several years. Lost touch with both over time.

Nobody writes letters anymore. I used to write and receive letters from a very special great aunt who has since passed, and I wrote to a great uncle several long letters each year (although I rarely got responses, but that was ok).  I had a couple of girls friends move away in the 1970's and would write to them often as well. I miss doing that, and I miss getting handwritten letters in the mail.

[GingerPeach]

I used to have a pen pal from France back when I was taking French in high school. 

I still have the little wood pepper mill she once sent me.  And it still works.  That was back in the 1960s.  And it doesn't even look dated.  

Like with most of you, we stopped writing at some point.  

[Miss Shelly]

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@GingerPeach wrote:

I used to have a pen pal from France back when I was taking French in high school. 

I still have the little wood pepper mill she once sent me.  And it still works.  That was back in the 1960s.  And it doesn't even look dated.  

Like with most of you, we stopped writing at some point.  

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I also got a French pen pal when I was taking high school French.  Her name was Dominique Arentod (?).  I would write in French and she would answer in English.  After graduation we both stopped writing.  I've been thinking of trying to find her on fb.

[CatsyCline]

When I was 13 I posted my school pic in a magazine asking for penpals. I maybe expected one or two letters.    I received tons of responses... we had to store the letters in 10 shopping bags in the basement.  It was crazy...I started to write to a few, saying thanks   for your letter but...something like due to the overwhelming response I can only write to a few penpals. Then  I got the angry letters saying they cried all night because I didnt want to be their penpal. 

Some I wrote to for quite  a few years. One was a boy from PA and I think we talked on the phone a few times. He was funny.    My fave was a girl from CT - we both were horse crazy and we traded sketches of horses in our letters.  I remember her name...would be nice to chat over coffee.   She had the prettiest handwriting too.

[Gorgf]

My Stepdaughter and I wrote to a Mother and Daughter in the Soviet Union. The Mother taught English. They sent Poetry books. I sent them cosmetics as so hard to find them in the 80s. They sent Amber jewelry and Russian tole painted wood items. When the Soviet Union dissolved and  became Russia we lost touch?My stepdaughter had a middle school teacher that had the contacts to write to. We used those one page  foreign mailers. They got to practice English. They sent  New Year cards, no Christmas cards as religion was still not accepted openly. Great experience!

[BirkiLady]

Yes, I met a talented girl my first year at Rocky Ridge Music Camp in CO. We both attended each summer for several years and were roommates each summer since we had become friends. During the fall, winter and spring months, we corresponded about our lives in Jr. High. She was in Texas and I was in Nebraska, but our lives were so similar and our parents were instilling the same values. We remained close throughout most of our lives for many years. But we call and email each other; our letters have tapered off to only a few annually. (Kind of a sign of the times, isn't it?)

BTW: She was sure her brother was the perfect husband for me! Oh, no. Not even close to my idea of marriage material. But I never thought about marriage (to anyone) until my husband surprised me with my engagement ring after only dating for three months. My first reaction was, "Why?" When he responded with a great answer, I said, "Of course! But you need to ask my parents. They need to agree you are suitable!" <giggle> He did ask my mom and dad! But I was already wearing my diamond at breakfast the next morning. They knew.   My PenPal was totally disappointed I didn't give her brother another chance! 

[DiAnne]

I had two pen pals in junior high school.  One from France and one from the Ohio.  This was a school sponsored program.   I can't remember why we stopped writing.