This Woman Would Never Have Met Her Husband If Not for Her Teenage Pen Pal

[Mabel]

I was 13 in 1955 and, back then, a big fan of teen magazines. They always included a section with the names and addresses of readers who wanted to become pen pals. I decided to write to a boy in Minnesota and was excited to receive a letter from him. Over the next couple of years we stayed in touch; he called me “L’il Sis.”

After a while he told me about a girl named Jane whom he’d started dating. Soon Jane and I became pen pals. We wrote each other for about two years, and she invited me to visit her family after I graduated from high school. During my visit, I met Jane’s brother, Lenny. It didn’t take long for me to realize I was falling for him.

Jane married my pen pal in 1962, and they paired Lenny and me at the wedding. After a long-distance relationship of more than four years that included back-and-forth letter writing, we were married.

Lenny and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on Jan. 30, 2015, on the beach of Waikiki, Hawaii. We now have four beautiful children, a wonderful grandson and a fabulous life. When I mention our teen magazine beginnings, I like to say my husband married his Annette and I married my Elvis!