Penpal Friends
Before the advent of the internet many people around the world would contact or keep in touch with each other in an entirely different way. They were penpal friends and although they shared much of the same information we do today online, their method of communication was very different.
Penpal friends generally find one another through a service provided either online or through a magazine. In common with the dating sites, they list their interests, a brief description of themselves which usually includes gender and age and they are then matched with someone compatible or they choose their own pen friend.
Many penpal matching services are based on common goals or beliefs because most people just want to find a friend they can write to who sees the world the same way they do. Penpals can live thousands of miles apart yet have a dialogue which will include everything from family members to the political systems of their countries.
A few years ago penpal friends were all the rage with teenagers. They would find a friend somewhere else in the world and then spend hours writing handwritten letters and mailing them to one another. In some cases it took weeks to get a reply but a big part of the experience was waiting for the letter to arrive.
Many penpals would include photographs of themselves so that the other person could get a better picture of who they were corresponding with. If the friendship really got going then gifts might have been exchanged even though the two people had never met one another.
It wasn't uncommon for people who wrote to one another to continue the practice for years sharing their life's milestones such as birthdays, graduations and even marriages. Many penpal friends would talk on the telephone and eventually meet, forging lifelong friendships.
Today the experience is more high tech and the letters can be sent within seconds via email. It's easy for someone in Europe to send a note to someone in North America and receive a reply back within minutes. But although the information sharing is much quicker and the letters are typed on a keyboard and read across a screen, the relationship and feelings that develop are just as real.
Penpals often end up caring deeply for one another, laughing and crying with each other, sharing in the best moments of life and comforting them through the worst.
The procedures may have changed over time, but pen friends still exist and people from one corner of the globe can meet and develop a friendship with someone thousands of miles away all through the use of the written word.
Why don't you give it a try? It's a refreshing way to make and keep friends in this day and age of instant communication.
This article was written by Lorrie Fleur for Help & Advice.
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