Thanksmom and Pennina had been weekly penpals for several years, after meeting online through BookCrossing. She has written this lovely memorial, and I appreciate her letting me use it here.
"In Richard Bach’s book Illusions there is a special message about family: “The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.” This best describes my feelings about a friend I met on-line at Bookcrossing yet never met in person. Pennina, or more properly Eleanor or “Candy”, and I had a friendship that stretched beyond many boundaries. She and I wrote weekly letters for over 5 years. Living in different countries, Candy in England and me in the US, and having a 10 year gap in age was never an issue, just differences to be explored. We wrote about friends and family, likes and dislikes, mundane everyday things, and a wide range of common interests that actually required research to expand on. Candy liked to challenge people, which sometimes didn’t work so well in on-line posts but was extremely enjoyable in our correspondence. I miss my friend Candy and I do indeed feel as if she were family. Even if we never managed to sit together face to face I did feel as if we knew each other and my only regret is that our planned meeting in 2010 will now never be."
Pennina was a vital and interesting part of the BookCrossing community, and we miss her there.
The PenninaBookshelf
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