Lydia's New Pen Pal

As a young child, I was fortunate to live in a neighborhood with lots of children around my age. We used to have so much fun playing outside, going over each others' homes, going swimming together...lots and lots of imaginative play. We were a creative bunch, so we'd play house, do crafts, play school, and find ways to transform anything into a fun game. Slowly, over the years, my friends moved away. Several of us stayed in touch, but one family in particular moved away when I was in 7th grade. They had two children, a son my age (Jonathan) and a daughter my sister's age (Jennifer). My sister kept in touch better than I did, and even met up with Jennifer once years later. Through the magic of Facebook, we were able to re-connect a few years ago. What's awesome is that our old friend Jennifer has a son the same age as Lydia! Jennifer is a SAHM, and she is into cooking, crafting, cloth diapering, breastfeeding...all the things I am into. She also just gave birth to a baby girl who is close in age to Bryce.

So one day I was thinking about both the benefits and downfalls to all of this technology that allows us to stay in touch with old friends...and one thing we miss out on is having real pen pals. So I though...why not start a pen pal relationship with Lydia and Jennifer's son Jack? I explained the idea to Lydia and showed her pictures of Jack. She was excited to have a pen pal (to the best of her understanding). I presented the idea to Jennifer, and she loved it, too. So exciting!

Lydia is making a book about herself for Jack

Lydia proudly displays her book

Lydia walking to the mailbox

We placed our letter in the mailbox.

And Lydia got a cool dinosaur card from Jack!

Jennifer told me that Jack loved his book from Lydia, and Lydia loved her card with extra stickers from Jack! I'm super-excited to exchange valentines. Lydia has been working on a few things to send in the mail soon. Can't wait to get our next letter.