I have an internet friend who has turned into a penpal as well. I recommend it. There’s something about sending and recieving physical letters that online messaging just doesn’t have.
I have always assumed, too, that mail would be one of the more viable long term ways of staying in touch. All these chat platforms come and go so easily. Discord, for example, started getting really popular around ten years ago. I will not be at all surprised if it is usurped sometime in the next ten. None of these apps have the sense of long term endurance that an institution like the Post Office does.
Now, my friend lives in Canada, and I in the United States. For years this hasn’t been an issue. All I need are some extra stamps on my letter.
And then the present moment arrived. Massive tariffs are coming and I am sitting here watching country after country simply suspend deliveries to the United States altogther. And on top of that Canada Post in particular has been seized up with strikes lately.
Even the things I have counted on to be the most reliable are shutting their doors to me. They may have good reason to, but it is disheartening all the same.
I just want to send things to my friends. Is that really so much to ask?