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Originally written in Vietnamese, translated by OpenAI.
I have a beautiful memory of friendship: the time I met my penpal in person after three years of writing letters to each other.
Human connections and relationships are truly wonderful. When it comes to penpals, many people might not immediately associate it with the concept of friendship. With the rise of dating apps, instant messaging, and interactions through games, choosing to communicate through written letters, expressing thoughts in words, and sending them in a traditional manner is a unique and delightful experience.
We got to know each other through an online letter-writing app called Slowly in 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Slowly became a companion to me through everyday stories, with our letters growing longer and longer over time, and the desire to meet in person grew stronger too. However, with one of us in the north and the other in the south, turning that dream into reality seemed difficult.
After three years, my penpal finally had the opportunity to visit the north during the summer. At last, those letters that once took hours or days to reach each other no longer had to. We arranged our meeting through letters and later transitioned to messaging for convenience, though our messages still retained a “letter-like” feel. This made me even more excited about this special friendship.
The day finally came, and our meeting was quite spontaneous—one afternoon when I skipped work to plan something with my penpal. I worried I wouldn’t recognize them after all this time, as I still didn’t have a clear idea of what my low-key friend looked like. Would we feel awkward talking to each other? Or was the idea of dyeing our hair together during our first meeting a bit “too much” and lacking in real interaction?
I arrived at our meeting spot—a hair dye shop—first, waiting for my friend to arrive. There’s a beautiful quote from The Little Prince that I’ve always remembered: “If you come at four in the afternoon, I’ll begin to be happy at three.” That was exactly how I felt waiting for my penpal—not just during those 15–20 minutes, but as if the anticipation had started from the moment we exchanged our very first letters. I felt happiness in waiting. Especially in today’s fast-paced society, where waiting and making time for someone feels more precious than ever.
When we finally met, the first thing we did was embrace each other tightly, brushing aside all awkwardness or distance. The outing that followed was incredibly fun and marked a beautiful milestone in my life.
