The Original 52 Projects - Yamaguchi

I can't remember when or how I first came across these but last week something made me look them up again.

Thus far I have completed

• No.52 - List projects and begin doing
• No.1 - Write an old friend a letter.
• No.36 - Stay up all night
• No.17 - Wake up at 5am and take advantage of the hour.

Okay so four in a week may look like significant progress given there are 52; one for every week of the year. However No.52 is cheating, No.36 was completed because I was nightshift and No.36 because I get up before 5am EVERY morning for that very reason. It's the only time I can justify having to myself because it isn't eating into the hours others are awake, and it always feels special because no matter what I do, it's just me. I might take forever in the shower just because I can, I might go for a walk and see things no-one else is up to see, or most often I go to the studio and work until the rest of the world wakes up.
Today I drove to the studio and there was a rather large dead animal in the middle of the road, so it's not always good. :(

No.1 - Rather than a hand written letter, I looked up a pen-pal on Facebook, found her and sent a quick message.
This is no ordinary pen-friend though.
My grandmother, long since gone, had a French pen-pal when she was at school. They wrote to each other regularly and established a true friendship which lasted until the 2nd World War got in the way.
At some point after the war, my granny's pen-pal decided to try and find her and sent a letter to the last address she had.
By some miracle it found it's way to my grandmother, now married and living elsewhere and the friendship grew from strength to strength. They wrote regularly, and on special occasions I remember there being family phone calls.
That was back in the time when not everyone had a house phone let alone a mobile.
There were visits with each family driving from the middle of France or Scotland to the middle of the other and then obviously back again. A journey that I can vaguely recall taking days.
One day it would be nice to take my own kids on this journey, be it driving, flying or simply sharing a little bit of someone else's life. We all get too caught up in the here and now and forget how important read friendships are.