Pen Pals

Lots of subscribers to online dating networks use their memberships simply to find pen pals. If you're like most people, your childhood was touched by at least one pen pal somewhere along the way. It may have been in a social studies or language class at school, or it may have been through summer camp, where children from all over the country unite for six or eight weeks of parentless fun.

Part of the thrill of having a pen pal is coming home to letters with their ornate wrappings and multicolored stamps. Sometimes there'd even be some inscrutable markings, sort of like hieroglyphics, left by the mail sorter in a foreign land to prove that the postage had been paid. Inside, the letter contained stories of exploits from abroad (or maybe just from the other side of the country). Those were the days.

Modern-Day Pen Pals

Today, e-mail has largely supplanted the old-fashioned post, and quick two- or three-line notes have taken the place of carefully crafted handwritten letters. Nevertheless, there's still a tinge of excitement that comes with receiving e-mail as you can never be sure what news lies inside. Through the blitz of "enhancement" product ads and refinancing deals, a genuine note of greetings, sympathy, or congratulations invariably filters through.

If you long for the lost days of pen pals, it's easy to reclaim them through online chat rooms and dating sites. While these networks remain first and foremost tools for finding dates, they double as friend finders and do a pretty good job of it. You can even choose a foreign country first, then go about finding willing pen pals. Just remember to uphold your end of the bargain and send your own detailed letters of news from the U.S.