Pen pals can create lasting memories

I was fascinated by the July 7 column “54 Years Later, Transatlantic Pen Pals Still Make Memories” by Brian O’Neill. The column read like my own experience.

I, too, have been given the wonderful gift of a British pen pal, Christine, with whom I’ve been corresponding for more than 50 years. Our story began with a classroom assignment when I was in sixth grade, wherein we were instructed to choose a name from the teacher’s list of “pen pals” and to write to that person for a semester.

Fast forward to 2019 and we are still corresponding. I have been to England several times to visit, with my first visit being after I graduated from college. That first meeting, after having corresponded via “snail mail” for nearly 11 years, was quite an experience and one that I have now repeated several times in my life, initially as a single person, then with my husband and again with my boys when they were teenagers.

Christine and I have discussed everything from world events and politics to personal experiences. We have seen each other through college, dating, marriage, children and most recently grandchildren. Our correspondence has gone from letter writing on onion skin to email and now texting via WhatsApp.

It has been an unforgettable adventure that has, from an early age, opened my mind to another culture and another way of living, allowing me to realize we are all the same and experience the same heartaches and happiness of life.

This year, my husband and I are traveling again to Europe where we will vacation together with Christine and her husband. After two weeks in Italy, we will travel back together to Essex, England, for the christening of Christine’s newest grandson, Jack. I have the honor of being his godmother. It has been a most unforgettable and rewarding experience and has proven that distance may separate but never sever a true friendship. CONNIE ORIENT Cecil