Pen Pals

mariacross39mariacross39
in General

In a world filled with so many demands and expectations I find myself wondering how to find someone to have meaningful conversations with. Does anyone participate in penpals? It seems with the increase of digital and informational technologies I am at a loss of how to find this penpal. Anyone have suggestions?

  1. Would you consider becoming a Penpal?4 votes
    1. Do you enjoy writing?
      75.00%
    2. Are you seeking someone to write to? Share your thoughts with?
      25.00%

Comments

  • disneysamuraidisneysamurai

    I used to do this a lot

  • cuddlefaerycuddlefaery

    I've participated off and on in actual letter writing and pen pals. One of my best friends from high school and I send each other long letters periodically just for the nostalgia of passing notes 😂 There's also online communities for various interests that have pen pals. I'm in a chronic illness community that arranges regular card exchanges. It's a lot of fun and can be a really big pick-me-up. I've also seen online "blind date with a book' clubs where members pass on books to each other with notes and stickers and other fun stuff.

    But for many people there are local options that frequently get overlooked: nursing homes, convalescent hospitals, retirement communities, homeless shelters, rehab/mental health facilities, foster group homes, etc. Living in those places can be incredibly isolating, not to mention the reasons for being there often lead to further isolation. When I was a kid, we brought cards and letters to the local nursing home for the major holidays. I've been pen pals with a friend I made who was in foster care for over 30 years now. You can reach out to the admin office of those locations and see if they'd be accepting of cards/letters, and/or if there's anyone in particular need of connection and cheering up.

    I can't vouch for it as I haven't tried it yet, but there's also an app called Slowly that simulates the snail mail penpal experience in a digital format. It seems to have decent ratings.

  • Carrie_AnneCarrie_Anne

    In the 1960s when I was a young teen I started exchanging letters with a guy in UK, a penpal. For many years actually and into the 70s. For a while it was a little bit of a long distance romance until we finally met, planned to travel together to Europe. Well after about 10 years of writing I flew to London and I knew within a couple of hours we weren’t a match. He thought we were. We headed to France from Dover, argued about everything from music to politics thru France and Spain but after about a week it was a disaster in my mind. He went back to Kent and I took off on a 6 month long backpacking trip through Europe and on to Greece. Returned to stay with him much later, still not a match. That was in 1973, and to this day we still write we have shared our lives over the years. It’s honestly pretty cool but definitely not a love match for me, just a lifelong friend.

  • SunsetSnugglesSunsetSnuggles

    I wrote sporadic letters to penpals as a kid and teenager...my childhood best friend after she moved states, my teenage best friend while he was in boot camp, some girls with similar hobbies. Nothing that lasted though.

    I tried Slowly a couple years ago. It didn't stick for me, but I'm sure great connections can happen there. I like it as a concept, I think I just struggled with the execution.

    I've certainly had digital penpal-type friendships over the years, be it e-mail, private messages, or super long instant messages. Those are my favorite kind.

    For actual snail mail, I'm all about postcards, recently. I'm also very into sending birthday cards and Christmas cards to close friends and family (including some cuddlers). And I've been mailing my boyfriend a card from every state and province I visit, for the past eight years. 💌

    ~ Sunset Snuggles

    🫂 Enthusiast 🏞 Travel Junkie 📷 Shutter Bug

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