General Chat

motowngirl inspired me! I had a penpal in Blackburn when I was a kid -- from around 11 or 12 onward I think.

Now, I had one in Australia at the same time with whom I have actually kept in touch sporadically over the years. There was a very very long gap, 20 years or so, and then one day my phone rang at 5 a.m. in the middle of February. There I was standing barefoot in my freezing kitchen, wondering what client or family member was having a crisis, and she said her name, and it was very similar to an actual client of mine (the penpal had acquired a Greek surname by marriage and they both had the same given name!) who was in a bad immigration marriage, so I thought it was her, and I couldn't wake up, let alone figure out *what* was going on ... and by the time I did, she'd given up on getting sense out of me. !! Consider time differences, much??

Anyhow, we've emailed a few times lately -- I tracked her down about 5 years ago via her name on a university website. Interestingly, she went to law school years after I did, as a mature student, and we have somewhat similar interests and focuses.

The one in Blackburn, not so much. We were born the same year -- I see now in the births index that she's about 6 months older -- but she was into makeup and heels and boys and telling dirty jokes, and I spent summer vacations reading science fiction and historical fantasy and volunteering and taking Russian classes. I was a geek, she was popular. ;)

So now I look and I see -- luckily there are only two people in England with her name, one a generation older and somewhere else altogether, and her siblings match my memory -- that she married the spring we were 16 - her just turned, me not quite. !!!

I guess that's right about when we lost touch. 'Cause I don't remember that at all, although I have her sister's 1960s wedding pictrure burned into my memory. Blue satin bridesmaids, beehive hairdos, black eyeliner.

Hmm ... and was it ... hmm, I think so. First birth 2 quarters later. Might have squeaked it in. ;)

Not together on the ER, and I don't see a likely second marriage. Will have to set about this methodically, I guess. And then, if I'm successful ... ? Send her a letter, I guess!

IHAD A JAPANESE PENPAL FOR ABOUT
TEN YEARS
HER VILLIAGE WAS HIT BY AN EARTHQUAKE

Well, that's a drag. Did you hear from her after that??

My brother had a "foster child", a little boy in South Vietnam, through Foster Parents Plan, when my brother was very young, like in high school.

When the US finally pulled out of that quagmire and let the Vietnamese run their own country, I guess western charitable organizations were not welcome, at least for some time. He never heard any more about the boy, as far as I know.

NO VILLIAGE WIPED OUT

How sad, especially if you were quite young.

We usually don't know people who are hit by disasters halfway around the world, so it must be a queer feeling when something like that happens.

SHE WAS A TRADITIONAL GIRL WORE
A KIMONO STILL HAVE A FEW LETTERS
SOMWHERE,,SHED BE 61 NOW
SAME AS ME

Letters on flimsy blue air mail paper?

Imagine how strange the whole concept of "pen pals" must seem to kids now.

Sit down with pen and paper,
make a hash of the letter the first couple of times and have to start over,
remember the polite stuff like "I hope this finds you and your family well" or words to that effect,
lick the envelope and stamp,
trundle to the mailbox
-- pay extra for air mail and use that flimsy blue paper if you do --
know it will still take a week to get there ...


Isn't this what texting is for?? ;)