{"id":4489,"date":"2021-03-12T15:09:14","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T20:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postalgia.ink\/?p=4489"},"modified":"2021-03-12T15:09:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T20:09:14","slug":"bring-back-pen-pals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/daviesis.io\/postalgia\/bring-back-pen-pals\/","title":{"rendered":"Bring back pen pals!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine meeting your best friend for the first time, after sixty years.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the story of Canadian Dolores Baily and Australian Lyn Carpenter. They started corresponding at age ten through a school pen pals program. They haven\u2019t stopped writing since. They bonded over their mad love for the Beatles. They sent photos and little gifts to each other. They got through the teen years together. They celebrated marriage, had kids\u2014writing letters to each other all the time. And in 2019, Dolores finally hopped on a flight to Sydney, Australia, to meet Lyn for the first time<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s the friend I\u2019ve had the longest,\u201d as Carpenter put it. All made possible by the simple joy of writing a message and mailing a letter.<\/p>\n

Reading this story got us thinking: Whatever happened to pen pals? We recently shared how writing letters fights depression<\/a>. And the reason is: When you can\u2019t have a conversation in person, a letter feels like a conversation apart. Letters are authentic \u2013 the deepest form of human connection, next to physical interaction. A reader will feel the investment of time, energy, and emotional output that went into a letter. Letters are intimate. Letters are personal\u2014especially in an era of impersonal, easy methods of communication. Notes feel special and make the reader feel special.<\/p>\n

Which brings us to our question: Whatever happened to pen pal programs? We\u2019re happy to tell you\u2014they never went away. Pen pal programs are in schools all over the world. Some pen pals never stopped writing to each other, like Dorothy or Lyn. Or Britain\u2019s Nona Avery and Ohio\u2019s Alice Powers<\/a>, who have written more than 1,000 letters to each other over 72 years. Their letters followed every moment of their lives\u2014including the sad passing of their husbands. \u201cObviously, we were both on hand to write letters of condolence and share our grief,\u201d says Nona.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Alice\u2019s letters will comfort me. Our correspondence shares the sadness, \u00acthe happiness and everything in between.\u201d<\/p>\n

PBS Kids<\/a> makes a strong case for the benefits of pen pal programs for young people.<\/p>\n