夏兒念七年級時，老師要全班報名參加筆友活動，提供了一系列國家供大家挑選。夏兒先寫給一名住在日本的學生，但對方始終沒回信，於是她重新選擇，這次挑了一個澳洲的學生。
「我只是很想知道她家後院有沒有袋鼠，」夏兒說。
不久，住在澳洲伯斯市的茱莉．波利奇．薩皮恩札收到夏兒的信，從此兩人開始魚雁往返──從手寫信函演變到電子郵件，再到臉書，但從來不曾斷了音訊。
When Char’s seventh grade teacher asked her class to sign up for pen pals, they were given a list of countries to pick from. Char originally wrote to a student in Japan but never heard back, so she returned to the list, this time writing to an Australian student.
“I just really wanted to know if she had kangaroos in her backyard,” she says.
A short time later, Julie Polich Sapienza received the letter in Perth, Australia, and the two have been writing ever since. They transitioned from handwritten letters to emails to Facebook, but they’ve never fallen out of touch.
通信不輟
從1972年起，夏兒和茱莉透過寫信，記錄了人生中許多重要的里程碑，包括畢業、第一份工作、結婚、生子。
而我就在出生的孩子之列──夏兒是我母親，就我的記憶所及，她與茱莉的通信從未間斷。茱莉說：「人們聽了都直呼神奇，尤其是我們能維持這麼長的時間。」
開始時，「蝸牛信」名符其實，茱莉說：「信在路上要走兩週左右。」
母親說：「跟她通信，我無法偷懶！我可能比較慢，到我們20多歲時，我大約一、兩個月回一封信。」
茱莉記得在兩人剛成為筆友時，家母曾送她幾個彩繪蝸牛殼。後來兩人又交換了結婚照片、派對邀請函、常見的食品和紀念品。
母親最難忘的記憶之一，是有一年外公同意她打電話給茱莉，作為當年的聖誕禮物。母親趕緊寫信給茱莉，問她電話號碼。焦急地等了數週之後，兩人終於通上長途電話，整整講了三分鐘，彼此都留下美好的回憶。
Always writing
Since they began in 1972, Char and Julie marked many of life’s milestones – school graduations, first jobs, weddings and the birth of children – through letters.
One of those children born along the way was me – Char is my mother, and I can’t remember a time she wasn’t writing to Julie. “People are pretty fascinated, especially since it’s been going for so long,” Julie says.
At the start, ‘snail mail’ earned its name, Julie says. “It took the letters about two weeks in transit.”
“She kept me on my toes!” my mother says. “I probably was a little slower, writing back every month or two once we were in our 20s.
Julie recalls Mum sending her a gift of painted snail shells early in their friendship. Later they exchanged wedding photos, party invitations, popular foods and souvenirs.
One of my mother’s standout memories was the year my grandfather let her call Julie as her Christmas present. Mum quickly wrote to Julie, asking her to send her phone number back. After waiting anxiously for weeks, they were able to talk long-distance for three whole minutes, something they both remember fondly.
終得一見
她們常討論多麼希望拜訪對方，但幾十年來兩個人都無法如願。2018年初，茱莉寫信告訴母親，她和丈夫貝索已經訂好機票要來美國玩幾個星期，並準備到威斯康辛州新柏林市拜訪我們。
2018年8月，茱莉和貝索在去過洛杉磯、賭城和達拉斯之後，來到了威斯康辛州，這對筆友終於見面。
茱莉說：「真開心，好興奮，兩人緊緊抱在一起，我不覺得是第一次見面，感覺很自然。」
有46年之久的友情在身後，兩人都覺得終於聚首一點兒也不覺得彆扭。
母親說：「我們熟悉彼此的生活這麼久了，倒是有些小事情以前不知道，現在才得知。」好比，我父母發現貝索（Basil）的名字雖然和常見的香草羅勒是同一個字，卻與美國發音不同（應該讀作巴季爾）；還有茱莉總是叫母親夏琳，但那是她念書時用過的全名，成年後就沒再用。
我爸媽花了幾天時間，向茱莉和巴季爾介紹自己的子女、朋友，也沒放過我們最喜歡的威斯康辛美食，包括卡士達冰淇淋和起司凝乳。當茱莉夫婦要搭機前往紐約時，兩名好友都淚眼盈眶。
他們現在繼續透過臉書保持聯繫，都希望不久可以再次聚首。茱莉說：「希望她能到澳洲來作客！」
They meet at last
Though they often discussed how they would love to visit one another, neither could make it work for decades. But in early 2018, Julie wrote to Mum to say she and her husband, Basil, had booked tickets to visit the US for several weeks, with an intended stop to visit my mother’s home in New Berlin, Wisconsin.
After touring Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Dallas in August 2018, Julie and Basil made their way to Wisconsin, where the pen pals finally met in person.
“It was thrilling, exciting,” Julie says. “We had a nice hug. It didn’t feel like it was the first time I had met her; it was quite natural.”
After 46 years of friendship, they agree it wasn’t awkward to finally spend time together.
“We’ve known each other’s lives for so long,” Mum says. “But we did learn little things we didn’t know before.” For example, my family discovered Basil’s name isn’t pronounced the way Americans refer to the common herb (he pronounced it bah-zeel), and Julie always referred to Mum as Charlene, her full name she used in school but not as an adult.
Mum and Dad spent several days introducing Julie and Basil to my siblings and me, their friends and our favourite Wisconsin treats, including frozen custard and cheese curds. When it was time for Julie and Basil to catch their flight to New York, the two friends shed a few tears.
They continue to keep up on Facebook, but both hope they can reunite in the near future. “Hopefully she can visit me in Australia!” Julie says.
(202009-123-127)