From my friend

Since I was single digits in age until my late twenties, I was involved in pen palling. My first pen friend came from Connecticut. I found her in a children's comic. The next pen pal was obtained through visitors to school. A class from France came to visit ours during grade seven. I was able to obtain an address and correspond for a while with one. The next time I obtained a pen pal I was in my teens and loved both writing letters and receiving mail. I found an advert for people with an interest in tennis who wanted pen pals and I chose to write to someone from this list.

Over the years, my friend and I got to know each other, mostly by writing letters. We phoned each other once, we swapped greeting cards, gifts, and at one point in time, we exchanged mix tapes of our favorite music. I think my cassette must have been filled with 1970's ballads from various artists, but hers had a selection of mostly modern tunes. Neither of us was used to the others style of music, but we took an interest and both enjoyed each other's tapes.

Whenever I think musically of my friend, I always think of a certain song that stood out from the tape she sent to me. At the time, we were both Christians, so the one song I especially enjoyed was Cat Steven's version of Morning Has Broken. We used to sing this song in school, so I already knew it fairly well, but I much preferred the professional version. Maybe it appealed to me because it was more similar to my own preferences, coming from the 1970's.

A few years ago, this pen friend came to stay with us for a couple of weeks. These days we are still in touch with one another, trading Christmas cards and birthday e-cards. Mostly our correspondence is now done through email, though. We have known each other for longer than I have known any other friend, in fact. This song always reminds me of her!