Random Thoughts: Pen those words while you can
Did you ever have a pen pal? Back in my school days we had a little magazine called "Weekly Reader." In it there was an ad which invited you to pay a quarter and receive the name and address of a foreign student who wished to write to an American student. I didn't take on this activity. Now I suppose they would be called e-mail pals.
I was a senior citizen when I had a pen pal. I probably have mentioned this before. When some friends and I were in Switzerland we met a man and his wife from Amsterdam.
We were having a hot chocolate drink in a small coffee house on an island in Lake Como. We learned that the man was the rabbi of Amsterdam. His wife was a charming woman.
She and I decided to correspond and we did for several years, then lost track of each other.
Years later a traveling companion and I were in a plane flying from London to Amsterdam. In our three-seat arrangement was a doctor from Amsterdam. I told him about my friend. He said they were his neighbors. The rabbi had died but his wife still lived in Amsterdam. From our hotel I called her and she invited me to tea. I went and we had a pleasant visit.
So our letter-writing began again. She had a large and interesting family. One daughter was married to a doctor and lived in New York. My friend visited them and would call me. I wanted her to come to Kansas but she never did.
One day I received a letter edged in black, telling me that my friend was gone. That was a sad day.
— NORMA HANNAFORD
