Pen-Friends

 I was reading a discussion here a couple of weeks ago on the subject of penpals; if we've ever had one, wouldn't we love to still have one now~> which inevitably turned into 'hey let's pen-pal through snail mail- who's in?!' etc.  The conversation brought be me back to my 6th-grade-self, who had a pen-pal from a then divided Germany named Brigitta. We wrote regularly to each other for nearly a year before the Berlin wall was torn down.  Brigitta was so interesting to me; she would send me erasers that she would call "rubbers" and stickers with German words on them and she would sign off each letter with "Ciao!".  She would ask me what life was like to live so close to Hollywood and what movie stars I had met (none at the time).  We each ignorantly thought that each other's lives were filled with exotic fancy.  I had no idea what was happening in Germany (why didn't I?  I have no idea; I was a good student, so I can only think that I simply wasn't taught), and she had no idea that my life was not what was seen in the movies (well...perhaps a very specific, uninteresting, opaque, shaky independent film that would not interest a 6th grader).  I remember, she asked me to send her a pair of Levi 501's; she said had always dreamed of owning them.  Well, so had I!  She didn't understand why I couldn't send her some (being the rich American that she supposed every american child to be), and I couldn't understand why she would ask me for them (all of my clothes had come from thrift stores, and nobody seemed to give away any 501s in my size).  What a wasted experience, such an important time in our world history, such an opportunity to learn a different perspective through a unique friendship- I just didn't know.  We didn't know.  I never heard from Brigitta again after the wall came down.  I've wondered so often where she is, but I don't even remember her last name, and I didn't keep her letters- what a waste...
  This conversation about modern day pen-pals also made me realize how wasteful I have been with the awesome friendships I have been blessed with even today.  I have a small handful of women who are so close to my heart- we're attached.  We are scattered through-out the country, but that hasn't changed a thing.  Our friendships are nourished through the bond of our history, mixed with emails, Facebook & the occasional visit.  What's wasteful (completely on my part) is that last year I received surprise cards in the mail, filled with colorfully penned words, stickers & even silly songs- for no reason other than they wanted to make me smile.  It did make me smile, and took my breath away and made REALIZE how awesome it is to have gotten to hold a sweet & whimsical example of my friends' love for me.  I've never returned the favor!  I have an opportunity to expound on these beautiful friendship in a whole new, short-but-sweet & DAZZLING way & I'm wasting that!  There are people in the world who would love to have gotten such a thing in the mail, or even to have one friend like these awesome women and I have MORE than one! Eek...that hurt to realize.  It seems that even in our age of anonymous technology; we all still want to connect to each other in tangible ways- and it makes us smile.

I need to make a stop at the the card shop this week. :)