An Old Friend

When I was young I used to have pen pals.  I remember signing up somewhere and receiving this list in the mail of other kids who had also signed up for a pen pal and how excited I was about it.  There was even a book series called "Pen Pals" and you could send away for a pen pal with them, which I did.  I had pen pals from Italy, Norway, Australia, Ghana, and the United States.  I did not have them all at the same time, and the correspondences all lasted for different amounts of time as well.  But I had one that was my favorite, she was from Italy.  We wrote the most and for the longest period of time.  I feel as though I was around 10 years old when we started.  I know that by the time I was in high school our correspondence was fading until eventually we stopped altogether.  I do remember that my pen pal contacted me in college and we went back and forth a few times, but we didn't stick to it.

Last week, my dear old friend from Italy found me on Facebook!  I can't even tell you how that made my day.  I was truly so happy that she found me (and funny that I never thought of looking her up) as she had to do some digging.  I go by my married last name only on Facebook and she only knew me by my maiden name.  She said that she remembered my brother's name and found me through his list of friends.

She looks great, just as I remembered her!  She is still living in Italy, in the same city she grew up in.  However, she is an author.  It's hard to get any information about her from her Facebook page because it's all in Italian, lol.  But we did write a couple of messages to one another to "catch up" a bit.

It's funny... you never know who is out there thinking about you.  I think we all underestimate the impact that we can have on one an other's lives.  I am sure that she didn't think that she would have made me smile and beam the way I was when I saw her and that she really did make my day, but she did.  She brought back happy, innocent childhood thoughts and memories.  I guess I have Facebook (???) to thank for that. :)