Well, Book Talk With R & T is drawing to a close- sigh. I hope you’ve enjoyed the week and all the posts 🙂 Rhiannon and I have been working hard to keep you all entertained 🙂

Check out Rhiannon’s talk about pen pals and don’t forget to enter the #giveaway!

 

My Pen Pal:

Growing up in a small town, I went to a school where I knew everyone- my class had 13 kids in it (I’ll let that sink in.) I would see movies of kids who go to camp and meet friends there and exchange letters- and that appealed to me- writing a letter to someone who was a friend- but not part of your every day life. Alas, the camp angle did not appeal to me (the bugs are not my friends) but still- the idea had merit.

At the end of 2nd grade, my mom took me and my brother to go spend a few days with my aunt- I remember us going to the pool and to see Batman (the one with Michael Keaton). My aunt lived in a town about 3 hours from where we live- so it was kind of like a mini-vacation. When I got down there, I was introduced to a girl who lived across the street. Patty was a grade ahead of me- but we were less than 6 months apart in age. All week, we ran around the neighborhood, riding bikes, walking to the store to get candy, and just having fun. It was like having a new BFF and a sister rolled up into one person.

Before we left, we exchanged addresses (this was before email!) and promised to write. Each time I opened the mailbox and saw a letter in her pretty cursive handwriting, I would be so excited. The next summer, we got to spend a week together- but it was bittersweet- because my aunt was moving to my town. I would love to say that we still write- but that would be a lie. After my aunt moved- we did keep in touch for a while longer- but, at some point, we lost contact with each other.

A few months ago, I was cleaning out some old boxes- and found my memory box- I had my diary and some notes- and then I found the letters from Patty. I laughed at all the things that we found so newsworthy back in the day- and then stuck them back in the box for a trip down memory lane at a later date.

As I write this blog post, I wondered if she’s on Facebook and just for kicks- I checked it out. She is on Facebook and she looks a lot like the girl I remember from many summers ago. I can’t decide if I’ll ever reach out to her- after all, it was a lifetime ago- but it’s a nice thought.

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Did you have a pen pal? If your pen pal sent you a friend request on Facebook- what would you think?

Happy Reading,

T @ Traveling With T