I always thought it would be cool to have a pen pal. Somebody to send letters back and forth with that you'd never met. With the internet thats a lot easier now, but it just isn't the same as using snail-mail and getting/sending those hand-written letters!
So I finally started to do some searching about three weeks ago (it was Tuesday, Feb. 8th). I'd heard about people who sent letters to Soldiers/Sailors in our military and thought: why not? Its perfect!
Then I found AAUSS- Adoptaussoldier.org
It seemed great. Nice people, simple, rewarding, reliable, and so on. So I read around, signed up, and read around some more until I was sure I wanted to do it. (Of course I was pretty sure in the first place- I signed up after about 10 short minutes.) The process of getting assigned a Soldier was easy, and all I had to do now was wait for it to move along.
Somewhere along the lines things got a little mixed up and it took longer than expected, but 8 days later I had my Soldier's name and info! I was so excited to write her! Heck, a day or two before I'd tried out writing my first letter, trying to figure out what I'd write.
Obviously I sent it out right away (I put it in the mailbox that night, to be picked up the next morning). I knew the mail was slow for one, second it would take even longer because of where it was being sent, and third I would more than likely not even get a reply for weeks or months, or even at all.
But was I discouraged? Heck NO! I was THRILLED. Me? Lil' ol' Samantha was trusted by our military to send stuff over seas to a military base? Given a Soldier's personal info to come into contact with (jeez makes her sound like an alien or something)? The address of where the base actually is? I was allowed to do this?
How. Awesome.
Well the first week came and went and it was time to write my second letter. I still felt like I was waiting to be assigned, rather than writing her again already. I sent it out and then decided- why not send an e-mail? Sure, this could be even slower than snail mail, given the fact that she probably has little or no internet access, but what if she read it? I still wasn't sure if she even had my first letter yet. So I e-mailed her.
I forgot to check my e-mail the next day, but it didn't really matter. Again, probably no reply anyway. I mean that fast? No way. The next day I had to check it anyway- whether I expected to see new mail or not.
Who would have guessed there would have been an unread e-mail I had gotten the day before? Not just any e-mail. Not just spam. It was the awesome e-mail I never would have expected. She had replied! Woohoo!!
I couldn't read it and shout to everyone in the house she'd replied fast enough. ;P
Two days later, another reply and she'd gotten my first letter that day. I was pretty happy.
What is the point of this post? Uh- JOIN! Seriously, you have to. Why are you still reading this? Go join Adopt a US Soldier already! You can really make someone else's day, even week, over there, make them feel connected to home and like people care. Do it!
AAUSS is just a sweet opportunity and I think everyone should do it. At least pas on the word and take a glance at the website. I would be much appreciated.
Have a nice day,
Samantha
