Remember Pen Pals ?

I remember having a 'Pen Pal' back in the 3rd or 4th grade.  I do not remember much about the experience, but a few things stand out.
 - It was cool to get a letter from your pen pal
 - It was enjoyable to learn how you were similar to your pen pal
 - It was interesting to learn about someone else's life
 - Most of the time, it was fun to write these letters ... even if you hated writing



I am sure Jeremy will never
forgive me for using this picture
from our Disneyland trip in 2008.

Without any intention to do so, I have become "Pen Pals" with a good friend of mine, whom I have not seen but once in the last 10 years or so.
I got to know him through church because our wives were friends and we sorta started hanging out as small families (we each had just 1-2 kids at that time).  His job took him to AZ and then recently to TX, but we have kept in contact through email all this time.

We sometimes go several months without having time to write one another back.  We haven't "hung out" in a long time.  Our families have grown quite a bit (7 and 4 kids, respectively) and perhaps our stomachs too.  :(  But we are still connected and each email is just like a compilation of conversations we would have had if we still saw each other more often.

Through it all, the same things I remember about my grade school pen pal experience are still true now.  It's great to hear from him, no matter how long it's been.  We still share so many similarities and it is fun to hear how things are going for him and his family.  And I always love writing him back, especially because he doesn't care about punctuation or rambling sentences and thoughts or even when I randomly jump from one subject to the next.  Thanks for being my pen pal Jeremy!

Song Of The Day:
One of my recent favorite songs is "Heaven's Highest Hill" by Blue Jupiter.  The song is actually about a husband/father who is grieving the loss of his wife.  But the bigger message of 'love don't stop' is why I'm using it in this post.  I look forward (in no hurry though) to the day when I'll be surrounded by loved ones in heaven, enjoying each other's company and what I'm sure will be some amazing views!

...