A Story of Penpalship

One really neat thing about life is the variety of friendships you encounter. Childhood pals, classmates, that girl you say "hi" to in the hallway, your kindred spirit, the up-for-anything neighborhood chums- these relationships may be valued differently, but I think they're all significant and EXCITING. 

I crossed paths with a girl at camp two summers ago. Like, literally crossed paths. We didn't introduce ourselves or have a conversation, we just stood there, looking at each other. I think I may have made a comment about her shoes (which were Chacos, holla), and she may have said something about my glasses; I don't exactly recall.

Nine months later, I was thinking about the friendships I made at camp, and remembered there was a friendship I didn't make. And that needed to change! I messaged her on Facebook and asked if she would like to be penpals. She said YEAH. I was over the moon, and yet, suddenly, a little nervous. The last time I had a penpal was in 3rd grade, and the letters went something like:

"Hi. How are you? I am fine. My favorite color is blue. What's yours? I would like to be a cat. Would you?"

For the record, I did actually ask that question, and was miffed by the answer.

Thing is, I've never been able to comprehensively describe myself. Emily seemed way cooler than me (yes, I occasionally still think like a middle schooler) and my words seemed inadequate. 

I had nothing to fret over. Emily is one of the sweetest people you'll meet. We wrote back and forth through the spring and summer, getting to know one another through good ole' handwritten letters. This was a different kind of friendship- definitely significant, and very exciting. 

Pretty soon we hatched a top-notch rendezvous- she would ride the AmTrak down to our family farm, where we would sleep like primitives and adventure through the woods for a coupla days. BOOM. 

I met her at the station two weeks ago. We stargazed, spent a whole afternoon in a hammock, and roamed through woods and pastures. It was quiet (mostly), peaceful, and summery. . .

    

     

Moral of the story: go get yourself a penpal!