THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 17, 1995 TAG: 9508170005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 29 lines
Regarding ``Inking a friendship'' (Real Life, July 23): Letter writing is how my husband Ray and I met. He was on the USS Kidd during Desert Storm and we became fast pen pals. In fact, I was a pen pal to 98 other great servicemen at that time.
Anyway, more than 2 1/2 years of letter writing found us longing to meet, and we did. Five months later, Ray proposed to me over the phone. We were married a year later. He was off on another Med cruise three days later, leaving me in California - more letter writing.
If more people would just take a half-hour out of their lives to write to someone, I know they'd feel great. When I get a letter or a little card from one of my many pen pals, it makes me feel good and I can't wait to write back and let the person know how I'm doing.
By the way, Ray will soon be leaving with his new ship, the USS Monterey. I'm stocking up on stamps!
SHERIE SYKES
Chesapeake, July 28, 1995 by CNB