Tai Joe, my outgoing grandfather, greeted the New Zealand family. Like us, they were enjoying a picnic at Wailoaloa Beach. He offered them drinks from our coconut and swapped stories with the family’s father, Alan. A lifelong friendship was born.

Until their passing, years apart, Tai Joe and Alan remained friends. Alan and his family spent their school holidays with us at our small village house. We ate together and played together. And every Sunday, we’d march off to church.

Diane, Alan’s widow, celebrated her 80th birthday this February. We still write to each other. Diane’s monthly newsletters recount her trips, gardening mishaps and craft projects. She types them up, prints them and mails them to me. Each quarter, she sends me a copy of The Word For Today, a devotional.

She remembers my birthday and always sends me a gift accompanied by her lovely, handmade cards. She’s gifted me Oswald Chambers’s ‘My Utmost For His Highest’ and embroidered bookmarks.

The greatest gift is her friendship. A friendship first forged by two loving family men. A friendship that endures beyond their lifetime.

God bless you, Diane, my dear friend.

Resources

Buy This

As someone who enjoys writing and posting letters, cards, and postcards, I always buy letter-writing stationery whenever I find it in second-hand shops.

This retro-styled modern metal desktop letter holder, featuring “MAIL” in hard-to-miss cutout block letters, cost me less than FJ$5 at Surplus Nadi (here’s a similar one on Etsy).

A few of the boxed sets of blank cards with envelopes, and washi tape that I use in my letter-writing.

You can get these at your nearest stationery shop or on your favourite online shopping network.

Credit: Photos by Siteri R. Edited in Canva