I have a pen pal!

When I started writing this blog in March of 2014, my very first post was entitled “Write Me A Letter.” In it I talked about how wonderful it is to receive a hand- written letter across the miles from someone. I still see the value in those letters.

Recently, I acquired a young pen pal. Her name is Julia and she’s a second grader living in Indiana. Her teacher is a FB friend of mine and was looking for pen pals for her students for a class writing project. I said I’d like to be matched with a student and be a part of the project.

Since my own children are grown, the first thing I did was to ask Mr. Google what second graders like so I would know what kinds of things to write about to Julia. I shouldn’t have gone to the trouble. It’s easy to ask people about themselves.

So far, I know that Julia is nine years old and 50 years younger than me, we both like sports and eating pizza, and we both think that dinosaurs are cool. I also know that by making a fun project out of writing, Julia’s teacher is making the technical aspects of it not so hard. We get better at writing with practice.

I’m thinking this is also good grandmother detective work for me because my young grandson will be a second grader in about five years and I’ll already have an idea of what he might like at that age!

This week, I received the second letter from Julia and today I wrote a letter back to her. I’m excited about dropping it in the mailbox on my way to work tomorrow morning and then imagining her receiving it after it journeys across the country from Texas to Indiana.

In this fast-paced, instant gratification world we now live in with immediate responses to texts and emails and where we can receive an Amazon order the same day we place it, there’s something to be said for actually having to wait. I’m talking about sending a letter through the mail and imagining someone reading the letter you wrote them and then, savoring the joy of anticipation as you wait for their hand-written response.