Writing and receiving letters has always been something I have loved; so much so that even now I have a tremendous amount of fond memories about my childhood penpals. Growing up in a small New Hampshire town, having enough to do meant keeping busy with art, friends, music and dance lessons and my penpals became a large part of my life when I wasn’t involved with school activities. Beginning at the age of nine or ten, I started gathering people to write to, including my auntie who lived in England. By the time I was twelve, I was ready to move into the big penpal arena. I sent my name and address to ‘TEEN magazine for publication in their penpal section. As luck would have it, my info was printed in the spring 1959 issue. Along with my contact info, we were asked to say a little something about ourselves. I wrote: “Bandstand and Avalon fan”. The letters started rolling in. The first one I received was from California. Within a few days, the mailman was delivering a huge amount of mail, and I received hundreds and hundreds of letters from that one posting in ‘TEEN. I’m sure the mailman was perplexed. The mail was pouring in! I was determined to answer each and every letter. They came from all over the US and Canada, and the ‘new’ exotic state of Hawaii. Many who wrote said they had written others, and no one had written back. More reason to keep answering my mail. Who bought all those stamps you say? Well, that would be my dad. He was British and thought a writing hobby was great. The more I wrote, the more stamps I got. Because I had mentioned Bandstand and Avalon, I heard from kids who were crazy for rock and roll music, singers and Bandstand regulars. That was me! In my opinion, email is ok, but there is nothing like a real letter. The paper, the penmanship and the postmarks from all over were so much more fun. I made new friends from places like Denver, Detroit, New York City, Cincinnati, Texas, Chicago, Ontario, West Virginia, Washington State, Beverly Hills and Hilo, Hawaii. And they kept coming...from California, the midwest and to the East coast, the great Northwest and all over the south. Kids who lived in big cities and state capitals and ones in tiny towns who lived on farms.. Many sent their photos. We used to write sayings on the backs of the sealed envelopes like: Dliver Dletter Dsooner Dbetter and draw cartoons too. I learned about life in the US first hand, and it was fun! I kept many of those penpals until I was in my late teens. Later, when I became an adult and worked in the computer industry, (among other things I do technical writing) I would often be working on a project with people from say Michigan or Indiana or even California. They would marvel when I would know what part of the state they were from; approximately how far from the largest city, coast or adjacent state or if they were in a suburb. I was often asked if I had lived in or traveled to all these states. Nope! Just years of writing to my penpals. I even met a couple in person and still have some of their photos! Penpals...a wonderful hobby which still brings back pleasant memories. I still love writing and receiving ‘real’ letters, now called ‘snail mail’. So nice: a real letter to keep and treasure! Wish I could connect with some of my old buddies even now! Stephanie Hammonds