Letters...

-There's nothing like getting a real letter in the mailbox, reading through the letter from a friend and then responding to send the same joy to his/her mailbox.-

We live in the 21st century - a modern world, where a simple paper letter via snail mail is already a rarity. Something unique... An average person receives bills via mail, newspapers via mail, maybe some magazines... but not fat envelopes with a letter from a friend or a penpal.

I'm not sure how many letters a "normal" person, who's passion is not penpalling, writes during a year. Two? One? Zero? So how do you tell to those "normal" people, that I - a letter lover - have written tens or hundreds of letters per year... Often I feel I need to justify myself in order to seem "normal" for "normal" people.

Why do you need to write? Where do you find the time to write? Isn't it much more convenient to call, e-mail or msn to your friends? What is the fun of writing so long letters; isn't it an obligation instead of enjoyment?

These are the questions what are usually asked from a person having penpalling as a hobby. I am sorry for those who never tried penpalling, who never put words on paper just to write a letter to someone who lives in a different country. You may never meet them, not face to face at least, but a part of you will always belong to them and there will always be room in your heart for them.

It's difficult to explain the passion of penpalling to other people. One has to have the same passion for letters to understand what amazing world it is. It's another kind of cute, bright, maybe a bit of childish (on its own way), warm-hearted, normally quarrel-free and open world which has been a part of my life for 21 years... I need to write because it's just the same way to express your feelings, render your thoughts, share your joys and sorrows as you do while talking on the phone, writing in msn etc. I find the time just like another person finds the time to watch TV - instead of watchin TV, I write a letter. And writing a letter seems often more personal to me than making a short phone call - when you start to answer a letter, you take an hour or two to spend with that person formulating your thoughts down on a paper, choosing a nice letter pad to write on, selecting the most beautiful stamps to put on the envelope... It's special and it comes from the heart... Writing a long letter has NEVER been an obligation to me. I only write when I want to spend time with a friend, and it's a pure enjoyment... I'm so happy to be surrounded with many nice penpals who have given me lovely moments to share their life with me and vice versa through letters. It's unique, it truely is.