Letters and Friendships!

       There I was a time when I dreamt of having pen pals. It was back when I was in high school I guess. I used to see 'Pen Pals' column with so much longing every week in my favorite news paper 'Navaneet News House'. I used to imagine how life would be if I had a pen friend to whom I can write about things going on in my life. Almost every week I used to plead mom about writing to one and she would say "No! You can't write to anyone just like that without knowing them! What if the other person is not good?" No amount of pleading got me past this argument and I finally gave up. I just checked the names each week and imagined them as my pen pals.

Fast forward to July 2015...

       It was just like any other normal day and then, our B-A-R God mother Shailaja came up with the concept of Snail Mail Challenge. All B-A-R mates were excited about the prospect of writing letters to fellow bloggers. No one would know who we will be writing to whom. Shailaja managed everything with the flick of her wand and soon everyone had a name - the one we would write to.

       My dream of writing a letter was finally coming true!! Yay.. And the blogger I was assigned was Tulika Singh who blogs at Obsessive Mom. I had read Tulika's post during A to Z last year and few more random posts but personally, I didn't know her much. I was nervous. What would I write? Will she like my letter? I knew she would be expecting it soon though she didn't know who was writing it. I stalked her blog for few days and found out a little more about her. It was fun reading her posts. After procrastinating for weeks, I finally got to writing. I just wrote the first thing that came to mind and within minutes, the letter was done. See, wasn't it easy? So, that is the story of the first letter I wrote :)

       Can it get more exciting? Actually, it can. Why? Because I was supposed to receive a letter too. And I had no idea from whom. As days passed, my excitement just kept increasing. The letter took a little longer than usual. Everyone had received their letters and were celebrating the fact but I still didn't know who would be writing to me!

      It was a busy Monday. I was tired from running in circles to get some documents prepared. It was just noon and I was already tired and waiting for the day to end. That is when a little surprise arrived at my doorstep. It was a letter. Yes, finally the letter had come! And that too all the way from Canada!! Elly Stornebrink who blogs at Xpress Your Essence had written this letter to me. My happiness knew no bounds. I wanted to tear it open and read it fast but I did no such thing. It was the first ever letter I received and I wanted to treasure it for a long long time. Showing utmost patience and ignoring my mom's comments about me being patient for once in a while, I opened the letter and read it. And read it again :D I read it 3 - 4 times before my excitement finally subsided back to normal level.

My Precious Letter :)

       So, that was the story of the first hand written letter I sent and received. Ah, the joy of writing to someone and receiving the letters. It was really an awesome experience. One thing is for sure - nothing beats the joy of receiving a hand written letter from people you love. In this electronic era, receiving a simple hand written letter can bring so much happiness and make you feel special. So how about writing a letter this weekend to someone special and surprise them? Do share your experience about hand written letters in the comments below :)

Until the next post,

Keep Smiling :)

Love,

Swathi :)