Pen Pals going, going....

not quite gone. I was talking to one of my customers (85) today when she came to mail her son a package. She also bought some stamps and said part of them were to send to her Pen Pal. I told her just last night I was thinking about her Pen Pals and wondered how long she had them and how she got them. She said she had had them since the early 70's. I said "Wow, basically as long as I have been alive". She said "my Mother took a paper back then, it was just in black and white print, no pictures. (If you said she took a paper now a days it would something different) There was an ad in there from a lady saying she could match you with Pen Pals that shared the same birthday as you, so my customer mailed in her info in. She received back a list of Pan Pals who shared the same birthday as her, some even the same year. She wrote all, didn't here back from a couple, but heard back from 5, all were from different states and 2 were even from different countries. She said in the beginning they wrote at least once a month, except around Christmas, then they would just send a note saying talk to you after Christmas. As the years went by they aged, their eye sight faded, writing became harder to do and the letters aren't quite as regular anymore. A few times now she has sent letters only to receive an obituary notice back. I asked if she had ever met any of them in person and she had. Some just once, a few she has went to visit more then once and they had also come to visit her a time or two. I could have listened to her much longer and asked more questions, but another customer came in. How cool is that to have made friends that way and to still be friends after all these years? It really is sad that such simple things in life are going to the way side. Oh the joy of receiving a hand written letter in the mail and the joy of writing one back. As the saying goes "It's been a long time since the morning mail could be considered correspondence." How many years before no one knows what a Pen Pal is?