My Love for the Penpal.

I am a rather unusual spirit--a lover of all things strange and extraordinary.
My weird ways and mannerisms have touched every aspect of my life, and has even reached the farthest edges of my person...
proving to encompass even my friendships.

I can remember as a girl, I would write letters to my cousin who lived in the next town. I used to do this only because that is what I saw my grandmother do. Phone calls were casual, somewhat vulgar inventions--they were used only for the most rapid of conversation, and the most unimportant. When my great-grandmother would sit down to write a letter, her rituals were always very well-placed and elegant.

She would prepare the paper and envelope to make sure they matched. Her favorite was a cream-colored linen parchment with a latticework trimmed at the top. She would always write her letters with a little grey pen, finely pointed, and her penmanship was a flourishing cursive.

"My Dearest Friend," She would begin.

"It has been such a long while since I've seen your children--won't you come down for the Christmas holidays?" She would implore.

"God keep you, darling, and I do hope to hear from you soon." She would conclude.

And at last, to finish, her beautiful and immaculate signature--underlined and swooshing.

In school, we were taught how to write letters. I always took it so much more seriously than I was led to, and it is all because of that instance of watching my great grandmother composing her verses. My letters became longer and more frequent, so much so that my cousin tired of them and sent me crying with the capitalized valediction in a clustered print: STOP SENDING SO MANY.

I stopped writing to anyone in the outside world, and saved my verses for me and my imaginary intimates instead...

It started to spark again as a longing for adventure.
I had always looked for friends in different places, places no one else seemed to look.

I like to keep a little color in my life, and with the advent of Facebook and Etsy, I was introduced to a new and exciting world of international friendships.

I was thrilled that, with every few people I met from different places within the states and around the world, some were indeed thrilled to write to me.

Among my most loyal penpals have been Rachel of Missouri, Shikha of Mumbai, India, and the man who would become my fiance, Richard of Middlesbrough, England.

I told Richard I could never truly love him unless he wrote me letters. I was using this as a threat of course, but it was also to test his willingness to take up a new hobby. I had never encountered a boyfriend who lived somewhat a distance away to ever comply to this unusual desire--the first or second letter were filled with incredibly boring and honestly plain descriptions of the weather and scenery around them. I like a little poetry in my verses, a little something tangible...I found myself constantly disappointed...

Richard stepped out to the challenge and delivered letter after letter of brilliance and honesty-- refreshing little questions and stories and all sorts of colorful morsels littered the page.

I was equally delighted when his mother and grandmother took up writing to me as well. They, too, proved to be as apt as he in writing darling tokens and humorous accounts of their daily lives--all of it, in turn, I was eager to read.

There is perhaps no one with whom you can share more intimate details of your life.

The penpal is a loyal, unbiased person with whom you may share every situation that is occurring to you in the present. It is a friendship that demands no true sense of devotion outside of paper products. You are loyal to one another by means of the secrets you each keep to one another, and to the promise of a return.

I must say, one of my most favorite letters came from an author I had written to regarding her book. She told me she was 'truly revived by the eloquence' of my words. I couldn't bring myself to reply to that letter, because I thought I'd truly be wasting her good time.

My newest penpal, and perhaps the one I may be devoted to for quite some time, is a lovely personage. He is Tomas of Croatia--and thank heavens we can communicate in English, for he knows nothing of French and I certainly know nothing of Croatian!

I look forward to see what stories we can bounce between each other, and how grand of friends we can become through the power of words.