What Blogging Reminds Me Of...


having pen pals.

Years ago, while I was in grammar school and junior high, I had 80 pen pals. Most of them were from the United States, but I had some from England and Ireland, one from Turkey and one from Africa. I got the names and addresses from kids' magazines like Jack and Jill and Calling All Girls.

To keep track of who was who, I had a recipe box with 3 X 5 cards with each girl's name, address and other information like siblings, pets and hobbies. If I had a picture of the person, that went in the box too. I got lots and lots of mail and it was back when the postman came to the house twice a day.

I loved writing letters to these girls and finding out about them and where they lives and of course I told them all about me, what I was doing, books I read, and movies I saw. No doubt I made up stuff too, because I did a lot of that back then.

Though that is a more modern picture, it does closely represent what I might have been doing. We had no neighborhood parks, so in the summer, I often rode my bike until I found someone's lovely front yard, preferably with a weeping willow tree for me to sit under. I'd unpack my bicycle basket and settle down to answer letters or any of the other various projects I might have brought with me.
(Amazingly, no one ever told me to move on.)

The only pen pal I remember meeting was a girl who lived in San Francisco named Bobbie Diamond.
(Of all the pen pals I had, that's the only name I remember.) She came to one of my birthday parties. Her folks dropped her off. At that time turbans were fashionable for women and Bobbie wore one. She seemed exotic. After the party, my dad drove her back to the hotel where the family was staying--The Ambassador. Needless to say I was impressed, my dad not so much, since it was kind of a long way from our house in Los Angeles. I know we continued corresponding for awhile, but I never saw her again.

Now, with blogging, I feel much like I did back then with all the writing about what's going on in my life, and the books I've read, and once in a while, a movie I've seen.

Did any of you ever have pen pals?

Marilyn

Comments

Marilyn,
Your post took me back to the days when I wrote letters instead of blog posts and emails. I actually got a letter in the mail the other day from a friend I haven't been in touch with lately. He was writing to tell me that his daughter had a new baby and he asked when my third book would be out. (He's not a "computer" person.) I'm going to write back to him, of course, but I think I'm spoiled. Sending an email instead of sitting down to write an actual letter, addressing the envelope, etc. is so much easier!
Hi, Patricia, I loved getting so much mail--our postman not so much. I'm afraid we'll never got back to the art of letter writing and sending it via regular mail.
Marja said…
Your post took me back, too. I had a pen pal or two, and yet I can't remember their names today. Fun post!
Marja McGraw
Joan Hartman said…
Hi Marilyn,
I loved having pen pals. I even wrote to soldiers during the Viet Nam war. Even after I was married and was raising 4 girls I wrote to soldiers in Kuwait ... I have an online pen pal in Germany. I am not as consistent as I was in my younger days though. Life is hectic sometimes. Thank you for your wonderful blog.

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