My Accidental Friendship with “Slowly” – A Tale of Patience, Lockdowns, and 20-Page Letters
The first time I tried being friends with Slowly was in May 2018. I sent out a few letters, got some back, but nothing that made me leap in excitement, grab my pen, and channel my inner Shakespeare. Patience? Never heard of her. So, after a month, I unceremoniously deleted the app and moved on.
Fast forward to April 2020. The world had come to a screeching halt. Lockdowns everywhere, no flights, no traffic, no chaotic schedule—just me, my phone, and an endless scroll through the Play Store. And guess what pops up again? Slowly.
“Why not?” I thought. Downloaded it. Sent out a few letters. Then… silence. For two months. Crickets.
Just when I was about to give up (again), a letter arrives from Finland. Now, since I had sent the first letter, I could sneak a peek at the sender’s profile. And there it was—bold, unapologetic, and oddly thrilling:
“Warning: long letters and silly humor ahead. You’ve been warned.”
That was it. That was my moment. FINALLY, someone who might understand my love for ridiculously long letters—the kind that could pass as a short novel. Up until then, every reply I received had been, well… underwhelming. But this? This felt like fate.
On May 27, 2020, I received my first letter from my Finnish pen pal, and that’s when my Slowly journey truly began. Here was someone eerily similar to me, yet refreshingly different. Someone who poured effort into their words, crafting letters not of the “WhatsApp text” variety but the “ancient scrolls delivered by pigeons” kind.
We talked about everything—from the aurora borealis in Lapland to the madness of Holi in Varanasi, from Stoicism to veganism, from World War II to the cartoons of our childhood. We made a list of 100 things we love, swapped our go-to recipes, and never ran out of topics. No conversation was off-limits.
Fast forward five years, 30+ ridiculously long letters, countless video calls, four handwritten letters physically exchanged, and an absurd number of postcards later, and I can confidently say—meeting this “White Finnish Grim Reaper” has been one of the best surprises of my life.
And none of this would have been possible without Slowly. So, a massive shoutout to the incredible team behind it—thank you for connecting kindred spirits across the world, one beautifully slow letter at a time!
