Summer 2023 has seemed a great one for happy news stories about pen pals meeting up! We thought it was as good a time as any to share some of those lovely stories including a few from our very own pen pal days. Read on for those and more!
Liz here. Hello! As some may recall during the height of the COVID-19 lockdowns I had a bit of a hobby, wherein I had 88 pen pals.
My pen pals ranged from Australia to Scotland to the U.S. and beyond. As the world started to reopen I had a mad idea that I would in fact meet some of the pen pals who had brightened my doorstep during the darkest days. So it was off to London I went to meet the sensational Liz Kentish and Alison Hitchcock. Then Sylvia took me on a tour of her amazing workplace, the Hospital Sant Pau in Barcelona. Recently I met up (again) with a pen pal living in Edinburgh who I didn't get a picture with at our first meeting as the chats were too mighty.
To say I am an advocate for the pen pal would be an understatement. I believe that pen pals open doors and minds and hearts and entire, unknown and unseen worlds. I've had the pleasure of meeting just some of my pals but the world is a big place and there are letter lovers all over! I can't wait to say who I may meet wherever I may go next.
Pen Pals Around the World:
If you like me enjoy hearing about pen pals meeting up in the 'real world' I've put together a list of some 'happy' intercontinental pen pal news stories that will bring out a smile!
40 Years of Letters:
Forty years ago, Martha from Kentucky and Yohanna from Sweden were matched in a school pen pal scheme. This year the snail mailers met for the first time.
From England with Love:
Patsy from England and Carol Anne from South Carolina became pen pals sixty-eight years ago. This summer they met to celebrate Patsy's 80th birthday. Read the story, here.
The Gift of Letters:
Twenty-seven years ago, Krista and her mom sent a gift from their local church in Detroit to a stranger to Africa. The little girls that gift connected stayed in touch. This summer, Dr. Becky from the Democratic Republic of Congo met her pen pal Krista for the first time.
Get in Touch.
Do you have a pen pal? Have you met up? Let me know! Send an email today: info@fleamarketloveletters.com.