Penpals

My Kaunas Cousin and I had never met until this past April, when she visited us for the first time.

Back in our middle-school days, Kaunas Cousin and I used to be penpals. I got very excited when I received mail from her. Lithuania was then a Soviet republic, and the letters seemed exotic. Here in the States, my Dad used to proofread my letters before I mailed them to her to ensure that I didn't write something that might alert the Soviet authorities. My letters were precensored before they reached the censors that mattered.

 
Kaunas, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1972. My Kaunas Cousin sits with her mother, Kaunas Nina. This photo dates approximately from our letter-writing era.