Pen pals in the age of social distancing

When I was in primary school I had a Pen Pal in Australia. I loved the experience it was so fun exchanging letters with someone on the other side of the world, learning what it was like to live on the Outback, and sharing what my life in the Midwest was like. Recently I dived back into the world of letter exchanging.

There are a number of Pen Pal services that you can sign up for. I went with Penpalooza. You securely provide your name and address and it is only shared with the person who will be assigned as your Pen Pal. You will receive the address of someone else so you will in effect have a second Pen Pal.

One of my pen pals lives in Idaho and the other lives in Florida. It’s been fun to exchange letters with two other women who lead very different lives than I do and to also find a lot of things we have in common. I’ve enjoyed this experience so much that I’ve reached out to my network to see if any friends or acquaintances would like to start corresponding. Two of my friends from college and one of my friends who used to live in NYC responded so I now have five pen pals. I love receiving letters, writing back, and creating my own cards and stationery to send to my pen pals. This has become a pleasure and a treat during these lonely days of COVID.