From New Brunswick, with love: Pen pals have stayed in touch for 50 years

It all started in 1970 with a handwritten letter.

Kathy Reeder had a friend who had a pen pal in New Zealand. She decided she wanted one too.

There's nothing unusual about that. Many of us had pen pals when we were kids. You'd exchange a few letters with someone who lived far away, and after a while you'd run out of things to say and the letters would peter out. 

It's hard to maintain a friendship with someone you've never met, and probably never will.

But that's not how it worked out for Reeder and Gayel Child.

In the 50 years after that initial handwritten letter — neither can remember who wrote the first one — the women forged a lifelong bond, seeing each other through births and deaths, triumphs and tragedies.

When Reeder was facing a series of surgeries in the 1990s, Child flew 35 hours to pay a surprise visit to cheer her up.