Letter #75 - Steffan

Sometimes in our lives, we all have pain, we all have sorrow.  But if we are wise, we know that there's always tomorrow.

These words are a part of the very beginning of the story that wove Steffan into my life.  His father was my grade four teacher.  I've written about his dad before in this blog, but last year I got the opportunity to get to know Steffan as more than the toddler I met so many years ago!

My husband and I were traveling with my family last year around the holidays and stayed a night at Steffan's home with his family.  It had been so long since I'd seen Sergio's kids, I wasn't sure what to expect.  Turns out they're both awesome and that Steffan and I have similar movie *and* cereal tastes.  Steffan was an incredible host (not a common trait among most guys his age in my experience) and spent all evening hanging out with us and chatting.  There were many reasons I with that stay had been longer, and getting to know Steffan  was one of those reasons.  We've since connected on facebook, but it kept coming to me that he may just appreciate one of my notes, and so off I sent one.  Since I'm so far behind on the blogging part of this project, he has already received his letter and I received an incredibly kind note back from him.  I think we may actually start kickin' an old school style pen pal relationship, which I think is just awesome.  Like father like son... I just love the Tirolese men! :o)

Letter #41 - Jason

Social Media is a fascinating thing.  It allows us to connect with people from all over the world at the simple click of a mouse.  I have to smile sometimes at the concerns expressed by "older" people in my life over communicating with complete strangers.  Not that there aren't valid safety issues, but in many respects, friends on facebook are a lot like the pen pals of past generations.  Communicating with someone you may have never met face to face, sharing whatever part of you and your life you feel comfortable sharing with them, engaging in a relationship without having ever seen the way they dress or hearing their voice.

The creation of this blog was meant mostly to give me something to track this project.  I didn't particularly care if anyone else ever read it or got anything out of it... if they did that was a bonus.  One of my cyber-friends, Jason, apparently does read this blog, and it does appear to mean something to him.  When I posted an earlier blog post on my Facebook page and invited friends wishing to receive a letter at some point to be sure I had their addresses, he sent me his.  I thought that was awesome.  Not only was my project impacting someone, but they wanted to be a part of it now too!

Last night I finally finished off a research paper I've been neck-deep in for over a week.  I celebrated by powering down and working on some letters and reading for fun for a change.  Jason will be the recipient one of the letters I wrote.  Having only ever corresponded with Jason on Facebook, it was kind of cool to be addressing him in a completely new way.  It was surprising to me that a change in medium could make such a difference in the way I approached the communication.  I also realised through adding him to my list, that Jason lives really close to my husband and I... small world!

I hope he enjoys the letter, I sure enjoyed writing it :o)