After 48 years, and 17,000 km, pen pals finally meet

It still feels surreal to Janeville's Cindy St-Louis that she's finally met Toni Purcell, her Australian pen pal of 48 years, in the flesh.

"With my husband laying in bed last night, as we were falling asleep, I said 'she's in my home,'" said St-Louis, who lives about 23 kilometres northeast of Bathurst. 

"You have these little reality checks because it did feel so comfortable and so familiar," added Purcell.

"It's sort of like catching up with old school friends."

After almost five decades of back and forth, the two long-distance friends have finally met in person.

Their first reaction to meeting each other?

"We cried," the two women said almost simultaneously in an interview with Information Morning Moncton.

"The husbands were on standby with videos. Didn't even notice them," said Purcell.

St-Louis and Purcell became pen pals in Grade 6, when their schools started a pen pal program.

Both youngsters had to choose the nationality and gender of their pen pal.

St-Louis wanted an Australian girl, Purcell wanted a Canadian girl, and the fates aligned.

"Toni and I just clicked," said St-Louis.

"When that first [letter] came it was very exciting," said Purcell.

"The whole household knew all about it, and everyone had to have the letter read to them."

As for what two teenage girls wrote about, they agree it was probably the normal topics; school, siblings, boys, the weather.

"I was often probably complaining about the weather and the snow, wishing I could be in Australia on the beach," said St-Louis.

"I wanted to see the snow,'" said Purcell. "I was like, 'Wow, snow.'"

An attempt was made to keep hold of the correspondence between the two, but it may not have been successful.

St-Louis has just moved back to Janeville for her retirement, having worked in Ontario, and swears the letters from Purcell are in a box somewhere in her new house, but she can't find them.

The location of St-Louis's letters to Purcell is a little more definite.

"My letters were entrusted to my parents, and they were in suitcases that they stored in their garage, and I think the vermin got in and destroyed a lot of what was in there," Purcell said.

While Purcell and St-Louis have gone on to cultivate plenty of friendships with people they see often, they both say there's something about pen pals that can cultivate a deep connection across continents.

"When you write rather than when you speak, you're much more thoughtful," Purcell said.

"I could write anything, you know, to Cindy and there was just this person on the other side of the world that wasn't involved in, you know, what was going on. It was just incredibly refreshing to have that kind of a friendship."

"I never felt judged," St-Louis said. "I never felt analyzed. I just felt accepted. 

"She has a beautiful sense of humour and a beautiful heart, and it just felt like a hug in the friendship."