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International pen pals meet for first time in 14 years in Canfield
CANFIELD
Theresa Miller, 34, of Canfield cleaned her house “like crazy” Aug. 28. Her best friend — and pen pal of 14 years — was traveling about 10,000 miles across the world to visit her for two weeks. Miller spent much of the day getting ready and checking her friend’s flight on her cellphone.
Miller waited for her pen pal at Pittsburgh International Airport that evening. Her 5-year-old son, Dominic, held a sign with her best friend’s name on it. Her 3-year-old, Anthony, and 1-year-old, Lena, held carnations to give to her best friend. Miller’s friend, Melissa, came to drive the group back to Canfield.
Vanessa Willson, 33, of Sydney, Australia, cried when she noticed Miller at the airport just after 10 p.m.
“It was easily one of the best moments of my life,” Willson said. She admitted she hadn’t really slept on the flight from Sydney to Dallas to Pittsburgh.
Miller and Willson have been pen pals for 14 years. They were able to spend time together the past two weeks in Canfield. Miller said she and her husband, Jeremy, agreed to let Willson spend two weeks at their home.
Willson said spending time at the Miller house has felt “normal.”
“I felt a little overwhelmed at first,” she said. “But the hanging out feels pretty normal for us. I feel like we’ve hung out for years.”
Miller said her family is comfortable with Willson staying there. She said her kids will refer to Willson as an “auntie.” She said Dominic particularly enjoys cuddling with her pen pal.
Both Miller and Willson wanted pen pals when they were in their early 20s. While they met on a website for international pen pals in 1999, they preferred mailing letters to using online correspondence.
“I wanted a pen pal — the classic pen pal where you write [letters] to each other,” Willson said.
“We tried to stay away from email, even early on,” Miller said. She said both found mailing letters was more fun.
Willson said the initial few letters were basic, focusing on age, birthdays, hobbies, eating habits and career plans. But with time, the pair started to write diarylike entries to each other.
“I’ve got some letters from Theresa that are probably 20 to 25 pages long,” Willson said. “But sometimes that was because we wouldn’t send the letters until after a few months of starting to write them, so we kept adding onto our letters before mailing them.”
Willson estimated the pen pals mailed each other about once a month. She said in recent years, they have withdrawn from the physical letters and focus more time on Facebook chat. Miller said they communicate almost every day on the site.
Although the pair has attempted using Skype the past few years, Miller said that social medium is difficult to use with the time- zone difference. Sydney is 14 hours ahead of Canfield.
The pen pals had been talking about traveling to see each other for years. Miller said she almost visited Willson in the early 2000s after receiving a big tax return, but she said she only had enough money to fly to Australia.
This summer, though, Willson said she realized she had finally saved up enough money to make the trip to the U.S. She said she also was between jobs, making this the perfect time to travel.
“I told my mom about making this trip in spring, and she said I had to do it,” Willson said. “I don’t have kids; I’m between jobs. I had to do this while I could.”
Willson said the trip cost about $15,000 for the flight and sightseeing. She said she spent about five years putting away money for the trip.
Since Willson arrived in late August, she has done many day-to-day things with the Miller family. She went with Miller’s children to their first day of classes, to a birthday party, to Mill Creek Park and to the 168th Canfield Fair. Both of the women said one of their favorite moments at the fair was putting love locks on the BIG LOCK 13-foot wire rooster. They said their locks included their names, home countries and the year.
Willson said one of the things that shocked her most in the U.S. were the prices of just about everything.
“Every time we went shopping, she would ask if the prices were for real,” Miller said.
Willson said most things in Australia cost a couple dollars more. She said gas costs at least $6 a gallon in Sydney.
After spending two weeks in Canfield — and making a weekend detour to New York City with Miller and her kids — Willson said she plans to take a solo trip across the U.S. as of Sunday. She said she will stop by Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles for her last two weeks in the U.S.
Miller said she will vacation with Willson for her final three days in Los Angeles.
Willson said she feels “lucky” she got to stay with Miller and her family during her first two weeks in the U.S.
“When most tourists come over to America, they go to your classic New York City, LA or San Francisco,” she said. “To me, this here is the real America. I get to do everyday things.”