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- Two women who have been pen pals since childhood have reunited to celebrate 50 years of friendship.
- They have gone through every stage of their lives together.
- They wrote to each other when their marriages ended and when they were rebuilding their lives and becoming independent women.
Two women who have been pen pals since childhood have reunited to celebrate 50 years of friendship on paper.
Caroline Hall, from Sheffield, and Helen Horned, from Linköping, Sweden, became friends after they were paired together in school. Living miles apart, the women have been writing to each other ever since, sharing the trials and tribulations of their lives for more than five decades.
Now the "soulmates" have revealed how their friendship has stood the test of time and exactly what makes their bond so strong.
"At first we wrote to each other as part of an English lesson," Caroline, 61, told Need To Know, "Our teachers knew each other and thought it would be a good idea if the class exchanged letters between our schools. It was the first year of secondary school, so we would have been about 12."
The first letters were an exchange between two young girls talking about their family life, pets, interests, and birthday parties.
"We first met after the first couple of years after becoming pen friends, when Caroline's family brought her to Sweden while they were travelling around Europe in a camper van.
"Then followed a school trip, meetings in each other's hometowns and London, family holidays with our boys, and visits to each other's houses."
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"Helen is godmother to my youngest son, so he has also visited over the years too." The pair have also revealed how their letters changed over time. "Life is not always a rose garden, and when we both got divorced, we exchanged advice," Helen, 62, told Need To Know.
"Since Caroline is a soulmate, there was someone to listen to what troubles I had. I often 'wrote' inside my head what I wanted to answer or what I wanted to tell Caroline, and when I got the time to write, I'd put it in a letter."
Caroline added: "As we both grew up, the conversations turned from sharing childhood interests to the teenage years; we exchanged letters about things like pop music, ABBA, dancing, and boyfriends."
Through their college days, the letters became less frequent as they changed addresses and moved around, but the writing started regularly again when they started work, got married, and had children.
"Both of us have three boys, they are all grown up now, but family life, children, parents, and becoming grandparents has been the main focus of our conversations for most of our adult years. We absolutely confide in each other. There are many things that only the other one knows about; the reliance on this true friendship has been a great source of comfort throughout the years. After having children, that time when no one really knows what to do, we sent little gifts and words of advice, suggestions of how to make it through life each day."
They wrote to each other when their marriages came to an end, when they were rebuilding their lives and becoming independent women.
"Likewise, we wrote to each other when we had health difficulties, exchanging ideas about diet and medication, about how to just keep going. We have also both shared the heartbreaking experience of losing a parent."
Their friendship has stood the test of time.
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Caroline said: "Through life, some friendships come and go, through circumstance, changing jobs, moving areas, children growing up, or just realising that you have little in common. Some friendships are not so convenient when you are rushing around this busy world. What could be difficult about writing a weekly letter, sharing your daily life with someone, and popping it in the post? Especially after all the years of friendship, and you realise that, after all, this is your twin soul."
Helen added: "I think that this first visit to Sweden (1975) was very important for our lifelong friendship. We really got to know each other and bonded together. As a matter of fact, I can feel the pain when something is troubling Caroline. She has been a great comfort to me, encouraging me when taking a new step forward in life."
CREDIT: Jam Press/MAGAZINEFEATURES.CO.ZA
