Pen Pal Cheung Chiu Shan

I knew if I was patient, my patience and persistence would pay off one day.......

In high school I often read about people seeking pen pals in some newspaper columns for meeting people and making friends. Personally identifiable data such as name, age, gender, education and hobbies was available for public perusal. I wondered how long such a friendship would last. Corresponding with a person I had never met before was like making friend with a dim figure in the distance. I thought it was difficult to maintain the long distance friendship that might end any minute.

Though I believed pen-pal relationships were usually short-lived, I had in my mind the yearning for a pen pal who would give me true lasting friendship rather than fleeting acquaintance. My ideal pen pal was someone who enjoyed writing, shared my interests and passions, listened to me as I would listen to her and treated me with kindness and respect.            When would the ideal pen pal come into my life? I didn't know but I was sure she was somewhere out there and would appear before me at an opportune moment.

Year after year I waited, but my pen pal was nowhere to be seen. In modern society everyone is busy with his or her daily life. Most people have little time for keeping in touch with friends by writing letters or emails. But deep in my heart, I knew if I was patient, my patience and persistence would pay off one day.             On a drizzling, summer day three years ago, I walked into a local shopping mall and happened to see a woman standing alone under the eaves of a building. I went to stand next to her and waited for the rain to stop. She smiled and said hello. We struck up a conversation right away. What a coincidence! Slim and roughly my height, Connie, the woman I met, is the wife of my husband's colleague.

Born in Hawaii, Connie is of Chinese descent but she could speak only a few Chinese words. From the second I met Connie, I felt connected to her. She majored in the same subject as I did in college and enjoyed writing. We ended our conversation with the exchange of email addresses. She said she would write to me. She did almost every day without fail after our chance encounter at the mall.

I feel very lucky to have found a great pen pal. I did not know the hearts of strangers could beat so alike until I met Connie. While we shared the gladness in our hearts, we also cheered each other in times of sadness. On this spring night, I paused awhile at my desk, silently giving thanks for a great pen pal and her written words that would continue to beguile my mind and enrich my life throughout the coming years.

Home | Index