U2's Propaganda Brings an Enduring Love

Time for a Change
It was 1986 - before the advent of the internet, cell phones and texting - and I had just graduated from high school. I was getting ready to go away to university in the fall, but my summer was stretching out ahead of me and I decided it was a good time to gather up some more penpals. Mail would be a welcome diversion when I was shipped off to a university several hours from home and had to live in the dorms 24/7.

I had recently become a member of U2's fan club. Now remember, this was before the internet had made everything so easily accessible - becoming a member of a fan club in those days meant sending away a money order and getting a monthly newsletter / magazine from the band called "Propaganda." In the back of that magazine was a place where people could post their name, address, and a brief description of their interests in order to seek out penpals.

I looked over the listing and couldn't decide - I had tried this once before and had generated a few acquaintances - but this time I was looking for someone who might be more than a friend somewhere down the line. Not knowing which way to choose, I decided to put the magazine on the floor, open it to the penpal listings, close my eyes, and drop my felt-tipped pen on the page. Wherever it landed, that's who I would write to.

Wait...I'm Sending My Letters Where?
Truth be told, I was hoping my pen might land on somebody in Ireland. After all, U2 was from Ireland - wouldn't it be neat to speak with someone who might actually know the members of the band? Instead, when I took my fingers away from my eyes, I was baffled to see I would now be writing to a guy in Canada. Canada?! What on earth were we going to have in common? I didn't know anything about Canada, other than it was north of me, some of the inhabitants spoke French, and a lot of my friends and family went there to hunt and fish. Oy. How was I going to carry on conversations with this guy?

Still, a deal was a deal and I had vowed to write to whomever my pen landed on. Canadian Guy was it. I sent the first letter off and got an enthusiastic response. Maybe this wasn't going to be too bad. I sent off my second letter and didn't hear "boo." Not for months. With a shrug of the shoulders I dismissed it as one more person who slipped through the cracks and got ready for school to start at my new university. Shortly before I left, I wrote Canadian Guy one more letter, asking why he hadn't responded...I thought things had gone well in that first letter, hadn't they?

Much to my surprise, he wrote back within the week - telling me he hadn't received my 2nd letter. We resumed writing and after I got situated at university, he told me that the 2nd letter had finally arrived. In my ignorance of his country, I had completely left off the name of his city when sending it - I had sent it to an entire province!

25 Years and Going Strong
Canadian Guy and I wrote back and forth until Christmas, when he called me. It was love at first "talk." I think that phone call ran a couple of hours - and that was one of our short ones. We had to carry on that long-distance romance for 4 years while I went to school and it was rough at times - really rough. My first summer after starting university I met him and it was love at first "sight" all over again. Lots of things fell through - we both tried to figure out a way of working or going to school in the other's country every year, but it never panned out.

Instead, we racked up $800 phone bills (no internet, remember?), spent hundreds on plane tickets back and forth, and sent each other flowers and gifts on all the special occasions - Valentine's Day, anniversaries, holidays, and birthdays. We even had a secret telephone ring "code" to let the other person know we were thinking about them without having to actually pay for a phone call.

In 1990, I graduated from university in May and married Canadian Guy in August. We invited U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, to our wedding but he didn't come. I still wonder sometimes if there's a way to let "Bono and the lads" know what they did for us. Maybe they'll read this article some day; if so, I want them to know - from the bottom of my heart - how very grateful I am for that "Propaganda" magazine. It was more than just a fan club; more than just a penpal listing - it brought two lives together, gave us a shoulder to cry on, and provided us with someone with whom to share our joy. Thanks, gentlemen - you operate in a very big world, but the little people in this little world have been touched by you, too.