Thirty-two years ago I met my husband at work, long before cheap long distance, Skype and e-mails. When he left Canada to work in the UK and Europe, we wrote letters and sent postcards. I still have all his correspondence although the stamps are missing from the envelopes; my little brother collected them.
If I could load any, this is where I would post a super cute picture of us way back when. ;-)
Long before I met him I had several pen pals, friends who moved away from Vancouver. One friend moved to Paris to study art. He sent the most wonderful envelopes covered in doodles, inside were Metro tickets and colourful descriptions of his new life. Another friend, a wife and mother of two young sons, wrote to me from Panama City. My high school friend set sail on a Princess cruise ship to live in New Zealand for a year. An elementary school chum moved first to Oregon, then to Zurich, Switzerland.
I love keeping in touch electronically but there is nothing as special as sending and receiving snail mail. Receiving an envelope from overseas is an occasion; opening and reading a long letter feels ceremonial.
There is a quirky animated movie about a surprising pair of pen pals, one in Melbourne, Australia and the other in New York City. It stars some of my favourites: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana and Barry Humphries.
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Wow, writing with a pen. What a concept! :-) I was never a good pen pal. I lost at least one friend because i only wrote once a year, and that just wasn't enough for her.
ReplyDeleteBut i'm with you. Snail mail from overseas IS an occasion! But gawds help me, my hands cramp when i write now, because i'm used to typing. I'm spoiled!
Your friends moving away... studying art in Paris?? Oooh my how fabulous! I "hope" to travel around the world, but if not, then maybe WWOOF around Canada the very least? *crosses fingers & shrugs* I should get my address book updated... JUST in case... :-)
Back then I wrote with a fountain pen--talk about old-fashioned! I met the artist and the woman from Panama city when I worked at a stationary store; he came in for art supplies and she was homesick and lonely, caring for two little boys while her husband was on sabbatical at UBC. How I wish I had kept in touch with all of them! The last mail from my friend in Switzerland was her wedding invitation but I was between travelling so much between California, Holland and Vancouver that I lost it before I could reply.
ReplyDeleteI have cramps and terribly messy handwriting; I have decided to write something every day.