The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!
22nd July is the United Nations’ International Day of Friendship, so what better time for Postcrossing to ask about a topic near to everyone’s heart: friendship!
At the moment my friends from university are scattered all over the UK, but every so often we like to meet up and have a meal. I’m very lucky to live close to the friend I’ve known all my life, though. We were born in the same hospital, went to the same nursery, and then to the same junior school. We’ve been there through thick and thin, and it was her wedding I wrote about on the blog for May’s writing prompt. As you might expect, over the years we haven’t always had the same interests, and we’re almost more like siblings than anything else, so generally we keep our relationship healthy by meeting up often and chatting, rather than shared activities. Lately we’ve been going for walks around a local country park, at Newmillerdam. It’s a lot of fun watching the changes through the year. It’s my turn to buy us ice cream this weekend, too!
Mostly, though, my day-to-day interactions with friends are with online friends who I met through the massively-multiplayer online game, Final Fantasy XIV—I’ve been having incredible fun over the last couple of years meeting up with them in the game and doing things together, like playing hide-and-seek (I’m not very good at it), doing the game’s treasure hunts, and doing “raids” (difficult fights that require a lot of coordination). A large part of the game is made to be experienced with 3–23 other people, so there are lots of opportunities to team up.
Plus I’ve ended up meeting one of them (so far) in person! Over the last year and a half I’ve dragged my new friend “Prof” to several bookshops, a zoo, and a surprise trip to a botanical garden (because he loves plants). Perhaps in July we should start planning our next adventure, in honour of International Day of Friendship! Do you have any special plans to hang out with your friends in July? We’d love to hear about it here, and you can write about it on your postcards if you’re stumped for what to say!
30 comments so far
That's so lovely prompt. I can remember many friends that I may hold my head on their shoulder. Thanks for the prompt.
Oh no,there comes another excuse for me to write postcards:3
treasureisland said it well. I have those close friends too. Thank you to my friends.
Unfortunately, things went a little differently for me. i met my so-called best friends when my husband died. but there were others who picked me up. i'm proud of them today
I have no friends. I have been disappointed too often. Therefore, it is better to be alone than in bad company
My best friend is someone I met on a bus in 1983 when my car broke down. While she was 15 years older than I, we connected on a surreal spiritual level and we’ve been friends ( my best) friend ever since. She knows my son as a little boy, now turning 37 in two weeks. She is a treasure in my life. She now lives some distance from me but we see each other every other month. She is Canadian,
I just read the persons comment about not having friends. I see people as selfish, self centered and into their own world. I am by myself alot despite being my grandsons nanny and teaching art. Other than that, I am alone alot as well. I’m a widowed woman of 71 and I would love to have even another close friend to hang out with. I share your sentiment about disappointment. Write to me and I’ll correspond with you. Where in the world do you live? I’m in the US: California.
I also really like ff14!
I normally hang out with my sisters by heart either eating in each other's house, go to the casino but most of the time talk about what is new in our lives.
I'm 81 years old and most of my friends have either died or moved away. I have a BFF whom I met in college and we are still close friends ~60 years later, but she lives 100 miles away and neither of us drives any more, so I don't see her often, but we have email and Facebook. My other BFF ghosted me very painfully and it makes it difficult for me to think of making new friends
Hello to all my postcrossing friends.
Today’s my birthday and my neighbor and good friend since1980 took me to breakfast at our local Indian restaurant. I now exchange interesting adages with Yana, who out of the blue contacted me through postcrossing. I will be sending this special friend a postcard today and request a new address to which I’ll send a postcard because what nicer way to spend one’s birthday than postcrossing?📫🖋🔖
To Shivetta,
Perhaps you can establish a postcrossing pen pal or two to share your joys and sorrows with. Don’t let a few bad experiences keep you from the satisfaction of new friendships.
Thanks to Postcrossing I have become friends with Maire in Toivakka, Finland. We send emails each week. This makes me so happy. I’m learning about her beautiful and happy country. I’m sharing all about my life with her. This friendship is one of the very best I have ever known in my 76 years!
My friends are all over the country and none in my state so I see them once or twice a year. We usually make a vacation out of it and meet up somewhere to explore for a couple days. It makes me very happy
You dont have to worry about cleaning up when your friend comes around
Ah, a touchy subject for me.
And my best friends are God and my parents. I don't have anyone in the world who is the same sincere and loyal friends. Other people are busy at their jobs, but sometimes we see each other to find out how each other is doing.
I moved from the Netherlands to Canada in 2007. Left good friends and family behind. Thank god for my new Canadian friends. I can't not live with out them even if I do nothing with them when they're around. That's friendship.
I met great friends and get to know more when I moved from Middle East to USA, I would say Postcrossing is best known for postcards but also it's the catalyst for meeting new friends, closing up the distances, it's a small world!
My circle of friends has come from some really good, steady friends to virtually zero. And like a relationship, I find one can't make friendships happen. Also, the older I get and the better I know people, the less likely I am to get too involved with someone again.
Either I can do something alone (be it something nice, or difficult), or I can't do it.
Lovely topic 👍.
I'm blessed with a few good friends. Two of them are now postcrossers too 😃.
I’d like to share a poem I wrote last year called “Backdoor Friends”. It was inspired by a friend I met on PostCrossing. (A backdoor friend is a friend you can visit without an invitation, and you focus on your friendship, not the state of their house!)
I like to think that life has been well spent
When I can say I’ve been your backdoor friend.
Perhaps I’ve come to bring back items lent,
Or maybe just have longed for time to spend
With someone who will offer up a chair,
And sit an hour or two in idle chat.
Sometimes life’s deepest secrets we will share,
But mostly we’ll just talk of this or that.
We’ll let our conversation just evolve,
And it will choose whichever path it may.
No problems of the World will we resolve.
We’ll save that for another backdoor day.
And when the time is right, you’ll come to me.
That’s how a backdoor friendship needs to be. P.K.
I feel sorry for those who were disappointed by so-called "Friends". Those are not "friends"….
I have very good friends, friends who have stood the test of time.
For 27 years, I have four good girlfriends at a distance of 500 km, good friends with whom I kept in touch and keep in touch.(with letters and call phones) We rarely meet because each of us has concerns and families to take care of .I have also friends in abroad with whom I keep in touch from many years.
Here, in Bucharest I have friends from Postcrossing&Philately with whom I meet monthly. We go and visit museums, monasteries, churches, monuments and historical places. We go to the movies, to the theater, have dinner at a restaurant where we socialize and sign postcards. In June we visited a bonsai exhibition at the Botanical Garden and on this occasion we attended a workshop on bonsai care.
This month we meet for a walk on the road, in the beautiful Kiseleff neighborhood. Then we will have dinner at the Casa Doina restaurant
https://www.casadoina.ro/
Originally designed to serve as a pavilion for the grandiose Paris Exhibition of 1890, the place was only completed in 1892 due to lack of funds. Master Ion Mincu calls it the "Buffet de la Sosea", and in a short time it becomes the favorite place of the Bucharest people, mainly represented by the boyars.
Here are some quotes about friendship:
"Friends are those rare people who ask how we're doing and then wait to hear the answer." –Ed Cunningham
"The depth of friendship does not depend on distance. ” – Rabindranath Tagore
I don't hang with my friends as much as I used to in my younger days but when I get together with 1 or both of them, we SHOP. It doesn't matter for what or where, we just love to shop. Good writing prompt.
I am now 60+ and retired and I am happy that I have had the energy to keep contact with my friends from different stages of my life. My "oldest" friend I know for 60 years and many others, too, for decades. I have the habit to send shorter or longer messages every now and then to Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, Scotland,... and I visit them when I am in the neighborhood. When I have been close to someone in some stage of my life, that person stays close to me, even if we do not meet very often. I went with my children to see my French friend after 24 years not seeing each other and it was lovely! Then there went 16 years and we met again in Hamburg and had a lovely couple of hours together. It is great to have people who have known you so long - other than family members.
On July I will see my chilhood friends in our former hometown. Just to meet, have a nice cup of coffee, maybe pancakes and ice-cream too...
What made us friends in the long ago?
When we first met, I think I know.
The best me and the best in you, hailed each other because they knew,
That always, and ever since life began our being friends was part of God’s plan.
My fav thing is to go swing dancing with my friends esp when there is a live band or if it is a special weekend dance event. I also love going to the movies, parks, museums, festivals, playing cards & board games, but sometimes the BEST thing is just sitting down & talking face to face
I met my BFF couple days ago. She started Postcrossing too couple days ago. We both like Harry Potter and now we can send postcards together!
I am blessed with many friendships, 🙏 it's very important to stay connected. I love to write and I send most of my friends birthday cards.
When I receive letters or cards I always say thank you, either by text or by phone. I find mostly people don't acknowledge my thoughtfulness, and I wonder if they never received it? I don't ponder for long. I mostly do these things because it feels so wonderful.
I don't have close friends at the moment, I had some before but it ended. But I have very nice people with whom I stay in touch and go somewhere from time to time. And I'm really not sad about not having friends at the moment, I think I need this time alone, I'm not prepared for friendship now, but it can change in the future. I can't imagine how many people feel the same to tell is it a usual situation or not, but for me it works.
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