Pen Pals

 I had pen pals when I was in high school. My best friend moved away in ninth grade and we had letter writing contests until we were off to college. My French teacher had us sign up for international pen pals so we could practice our language skills so I had pen pals in France and England. I loved writing letters. This was before computers so they were handwritten and snail-mailed. Then we all grew up, got busy with life and writing letters went by the wayside.

A blog I followed wrote a post on friendship and letter writing. The post suggested, if brave enough, to submit our addresses if we want to exchange letters, postcards, happy thoughts or support with the other blog followers. I thought this would be a wonderful way to meet people and converse safely without chemical exposures so I gave it a try.

I started by sending birthday cards in Christmas envelopes to anyone who sounded compatible or people who were going through a tough time. I sent some postcards with uplifting quotes. It felt good to send happiness and cheer through the mail. I love to write about nothing. I love to decorate. This was fun!

People wrote back with their own cards. Some sent art, stickers, decorations. Others discussed their interests, hobbies, travels, health, family, and books they are reading. One woman who was experiencing grief wrote telling me she thought my printing style was "very comforting, creative, uniform and decisive". It made her feel calm amidst the surrounding turmoil she was experiencing. Wow. Who would have thought printing would have that kind of effect on anyone?

Some wrote only once and others kept writing. Handwriting letters is odd. First, it's totally not like typing. You can't just free write thoughtlessly and correct mistakes as you go or you end up with one messy letter. It took me a while to get used to the idea that once I sent the letter, there won't be an immediate response like email. I also found I couldn't remember what I wrote in the last letter so I had to start copying the letters. How did I used to write a letter and not copy it? The anticipation of waiting for a response is both fun and frustrating. I wonder what is taking them so long? I wonder if they decided to stop writing. I wonder if I said something stupid or off-putting!

Then one woman sent me paper and an envelope that she watercolor washed in bright colors! It was so joyful, creative and inspiring to find something in my dark and dreary mailbox besides dark and dreary bills! I was absolutely dazzled and delighted by the brilliance. I was determined to share this experience with not only my pen pal who sent me the watercolored paper, but with all my other pen pals. Everyone deserves to be dazzled. I also got some free envelopes with cellophane address windows.

Here are a few of my watercolor envelope designs and interior cards to cover the windows: