Penpal Swap

Yes, I'm still alive and obsessing about handwritten letters and penpals, as of late! Thanks to Felicia C. Sullivan who wrote about Adventures in Letter Writing: The Pen Pal Swap on her website (http://feliciasullivan.com/?p=579). What a brilliant idea! I've always loved receiving goodies in the mail and have missed regular handwritten correspondence. As much as I love the internet and the wonderful ways I can connect with others, I do feel sad about what it's done to the art of handwritten letters and traditional correspondence.

As a child, I had quite a few penpals. There was Lisa in West Virginia, Liliana in Saskatchewan, Lori in Pennsylvania... We would send class pictures to one another and write about school and our favorite colors and the "snowballs" we would attend. One of my dearest friends, Angie, also had a number of penfriends. I remember rushing over to her house to read the latest letter she received or to look at her new stationery. We would practice our penmanship on scraps of paper and pore over her sticker collection. We tested her glitter pens and metallic markers and watched Big Blue Marble to find out how we could get even more penpals.

Recently, we decided to get our little people to write to one another, knowing how much fun it would be for them (and to live a little vicariously, as well!). My little person is very excited about this prospect and has started thinking of things to write about!

[Coincidentally, my partner also shares a love for handwritten letters. Imagine the surprise when he shared several of his shoeboxes filled with old letters and little goodies that he had saved throughout the years. Yet another reason why I think we're such a fantastic match! (Shhh... he also has a love for Japanese stationery which he acquired during the time he lived there)].

As for Angie and I... To this day, we still love writing notes to eachother, though, it's more sporadic or limited to greeting cards. We're also still very particular about perfecting our penmanship and still swoon at the sight of beautiful stationery and little stickers and rubber stamps to adorn envelopes.

For those of you who miss receiving goodies in the mail, I urge you to check out Felicia C. Sullivan's post and join in the penpal revival.

[OR... if you feel more comfortable sending yours truly a handwritten letter, why, I certainly wouldn't mind that, either...] ;)