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Blog > Postcrossing Connections: NanPC & Seb_Hcd

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It’s been a while since we’ve had a friendship story on the blog, and we miss them!

A while ago, postcrosser Nan (aka NanPC) sent us a very nice message to let us know about a remarkable friendship she started with Sébastian (aka Seb_Hcd) and his family in France! As it often goes in Postcrossing, it all started with a postcard… but we’ll let Nan tell the story!

A postcard featuring a front view of the Notre Dame cathedral, in Paris

"I received the above card in May 2019 from the sender in Caen (in Normandy, France). When I registered it, I remarked that my uncle had been involved in the D-Day invasion. From there, the sender, Sébastien and I began an email correspondence. He told me about his deep understanding of what the Allies had done for his country and I shared pictures from my uncle’s photo album. Sébastien and his family sent me memorabilia from the D-Day celebrations. We exchanged more emails and photos and gifts. I saw their New Year’s decorations and they asked for a photo of our Thanksgiving meal. When his family went on vacation, I got pictures and more postcards. Once we became Facebook friends, I saw what a devoted marathoner he was.

When my daughter became seriously ill in 2020, they kept up with the medical developments for the next two plus years through our CaringBridge webpage.

Last fall, he let me know that he was going to run in the New York City Marathon in November and then the family would be taking a few more days to visit Washington DC. At last we could meet up, since I live an hour from there! My daughter and I met them for a lovely dinner in DC. Their two teenagers were just as nice as they could be. It was fun!

Both families have a meal together around a restaurant table

When I mentioned my intention to visit the Normandy beaches, they invited me to stay with them. Sébastien wanted to show me the historical sites that he has known and treasured since he was a teen. I made that visit some months ago. I was overwhelmed with their hospitality and kindnesses. His sweet wife, Ange Elique drove us everywhere (he had a broken leg) and took a week of her vacation time to host, entertain and feed me. She even gave me handmade gifts.

Sébastian and his wife pose in front of the D-Day monument in Omaha beach, Normandy

Although we do not have command of each other’s languages, we used interpreting devices on our phones and did fine.

Sébastian and Nan pose for a photo at a restaurant table

Postcrossing has led to a friendship that would not have happened any other way. I am deeply grateful and wanted you to know what transpired because of a simple postcard."

Thank you Nan and Sébastien, for sharing your friendship story with us! :)

What about you? Have you made some nice friends through Postcrossing? If you feel up to it, write to us about it — we’d love to hear it!

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67 comments so far

Talenx, Germany

heartwarming story

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mezzanine2, Canada

What an inspiring story -- all arising from a chance encounter involving a postcard. Thank you for sharing this story.

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Florallle, United Kingdom

I love this. Thanks for sharing.

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Trans_Niqabi, United States of America

So sweet. I love these stories.

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sacdalton, United States of America

What a remarkable connection sending postcard to someone you don't know has brought for these families. Thanks for sharing your story.

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Kaminskaya, Belarus

Such stories inspire🥹

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Luziaceleste, Brazil

I remember years ago when friends through Postcrossing were virtual or just a postcard presence. But from years they became a real rpesence, Brazilians and foreigners. And these meetups are constantly gowing as deepen our relations among postcrossers.
This community is gorgeous.
Thank you Postcrossing to allow this tool to connect us! <3

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simsalina, Germany

Aaaw, this is so wholesome and lovely to read! 🫠

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Kristi-D, United States of America

Lovely story. What a wonderful connection, not only for Sam and Sébastien, but for their families, also.

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vasquez_se7en, United Kingdom

This is a fantastic story, the whole Postcrossing community is such a lovely one to be a part of. Through official card, direct swaps and the forum I have met some of thee BEST people in the world, and made friends for life. These are people I would never have met if it wasn't for Postcrossing, so I'm VERY grateful! LOVE IT!!!

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Eva21, Slovenia

So lovely! Thank you for sharing:) I wish you all many connections such as this:)

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mysweetlife63, United States of America

Relationships make the world go round! Thank you for sharing this wonderful story!

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sonataca, United States of America

Such a sweet story! I also made amazing friends through Postcrossing! I hope every Postcrosser is blessed with friends from this community of mostly great people.

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JoRaKa, Germany

What a wonderful story!🤩 This is the absolut best that can come out of Postcrossing! 😎

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mamash, United States of America

What a great story! @NanPC if you have any interest in learning more about the French language and culture, I highly recommend l’Alliance Française which has offices all over the world! Many classes are taught online : )

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SuziH, Canada

I really enjoyed reading about this wonderful postcrossing bond story. My favourite part of postcrossing is the connections I feel with total strangers I've never met.

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LaurnaH, United States of America

What a beautiful story! So happy for everyone involved.

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Uschi09, Germany

Postcards are more than greetings - they are little glimpses into life!

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beesknees, United States of America

lovely story, thanks for sharing

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ceoramalho, Brazil

My best friend I met through Postcrossing too... she is a Portuguese girl living in Frankfurt am Main and I live in Brazilian countryside... we met in 2019 after I send her a post card... she visited me here once and I'm going to visit her soon... even our families are friends now... her mother in Alentejo and mine here in Brazil talk to each other on the phone every day!

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NZSunshine, New Zealand

I too have a number of really amazing friends that I've met through Postcrossing. Some I've met and some I haven't met. Some I've been exchanging postcards and letters with for years. There's even a small group of us that regularly exchange postcards having met through an amazing personal journal book one of them did. The very artistic book went around the world several times for each of the 10 or so people involved to write about themselves and their Postcrossing involvement. It's a great treasure to my dear friend in Germany. I'm still in contact with 4 of these people after almost 9 years.

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MohnSchneke, United Kingdom

Awww! This is such a lovely story! What a beautiful friendship :)

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Flippie, Canada

Thanks for sharing...

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wilmavz, Netherlands

Great to read about this friendship. Thanks for sharing!

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Mamaduke, Australia

Such a delight to read this. "You meet the nicest people on Postcrossing."

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diorkaLV, Latvia

It's really great when people who are far away from each other can make friends! I would also like to find friends!

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thepostalcharm, Germany

Such an inspiring story! From my personal experience, Postcrossing, and the penpaling community in general, has been a great way to make long-lasting friendships.

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sharon3, Canada

Wonderful story. Thank you.

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WendyKaye, United States of America

What a precious story!

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clbrown, United States of America

Thank you postcrossing for making connections like this happen :) When in covid lock down, I asked another postcrosser to join a zoom book club with me. We each asked best friends and to this date we've read 70 books and have meet every week for 3 years. At the beginning of this month we all met face to face in Colorado. All this joy and learning would have never happened without Postcrossing. Thank you!

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Demmi, Romania

Nice story and yes Postcrossing brings people together!
Long live the friendship!
Thanks for sharing!

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Robin67, Austria

Super!

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Annemarie333, France

Merci pour votre beau partage, votre belle amitié. Bravo ✨️⭐️🌟🌼💛

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Tetsuko, Germany

Really lovely and I know how great it is to finally meet a long year postcard/postcrossing/letter exchange friend. You feel so near already as you know so much of each other and still it is so stunning moment to finally meet. I just had that some weeks ago with my penpal from Korea I met here at Postcrossing too.

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sebiusz, Poland

What a story!
I was really close to meet a Postcrossing friend Edgar, a Spanish guy living in U.K. We exchange Unesco postcards from time to time. Edgar has visited my hometown Toruń some time ago. But due to train time change we were not able to see each other.
There are some things common with @Seb_Hdc: our first name and love for marathon runs! :)

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Langfordlibrarian, United States of America

I have been privileged to meet 3 POSTCROSSERS face to face, and probably many unknowingly since we live in a tourist town.
Two are relatively close to Monterey where I'm from-San Francisco. I had coffee with the first one a year ago when she came into town for a marathon. The second one from SF was such a serendipity! We met a my first meetup ever, in Salinas, and then 2 weeks later, her name randomly showed up for me to send her a postcard! But the biggest win was during covid when clbrown from Nebraska reached out and asked if we could start a book club!
3 years and 70 books later, we got to meet face to face in Colorado. Thank you Postcrossing, for working tirelessly to stitch people from around the globe together into one beautiful tapestry!

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postboo, Norway

That's a beautiful story, thank you both, merci, for sharing!

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faithfilledartisan, United States of America

A friendship that begins with "it all started with a postcard" is what makes this community so special. Wow. What a beautiful story, and what a remarkable bond you share! Thank you / merci bien to both of you for sharing with us!

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QueQ, United States of America

What a wonderful chain of connections...all begun with one postcard. Long live Postcrossing.... the worldwide connection creator!!💙

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Kewl, Philippines

Wow! I wish I could also meet international postcrosser through correspondence here.
:-)

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Mirfi, Australia

Such a wonderful friendship story!

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carolreader, United States of America

Wonderful!

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JarieLyn, United States of America

This story, this connection warms my heart.

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Kuca678, Czech Republic

Just more stories like this with a happy ending, friendships make us stronger

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EnoTanya, Belarus

It's so incredible! Touching and warm from your story. Friendship is so easy.

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suegathman, United States of America

Thank you for sharing this wonderful story!

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islander61, Bahamas

What a wonderful story! Just think it all started with postcard and a stamp; awesome!

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jbernahl, United States of America

What a heartwarming story! Thank you for sharing with all of us lovely postcrossers.

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ForestLily, Canada

What a beautiful story! Thank you so much for sharing your heartwarming connection.

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rococoabean, Australia

Gorgeous! Just the kind of story we all need at the moment, I think. :-)

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Sophie-B, Netherlands

Thank you for sharing this story with us! I too have met wonderful people via Postcrossing, some of them have become true friends even if I haven't met them (yet?) in "real life". It is extraordinary what Postcards can do and I am so grateful to be part of this community.

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bunnywithatoolbelt, United States of America

This really reinforces the reason to leave some kind of personal comment for every postcard received! I hope to have this kind of connection some day. Thank you so much for this post.

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StetsFlauschig, Germany

I love these stories - they really show that postcrossing is more then "just writing some cards".
Over the years, I have developed a good friendship with a woman from Czech Republic - I could share it, too. Would be really wonderful.

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orange_memo, United States of America

What a lovely story, a kind friendship, and compassion. Once again a gentle reminder that with Postcrossing and postcards, language barriers and we can close up long distances, love it.

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chen_snailmail, United States of America

This is such a heart-warming story. I wish everyone can enjoy their encounters in the star with the postcards they send or receive, even it just lasts for a few words.

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LaurieBulson, United States of America

I loved reading this story. I appreciate that we have the opportunity to make deeper connections with some of the people we have sent or received postcards from. Thank you for sharing yours.

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GenevaSophia, United States of America

Well if this isn’t the goddamn best :)

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Gaiasduhter, Germany

I attended many meet-ups so far and meanwhile made some good friends. When I moved, I attended a meet-up in my new town and met a very nice postcrosser who only lives some streets away from me. When I was ill, she gave me her phone number to call her in case I need something. And back then, she only knew me from 1 meeting. Postcrossing is such a wonderful hobby. You not only write postcards to strangers, but can meet other postcrossers in person, and even make friends.

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Elco, Netherlands

Geweldig verhaal.

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madeinfrench, France

What a great post. I have not made friends yet. I just registered , but hopefully , a story like yours could happen😁 thanks for sharing !

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JessieUy, Malaysia

Such a great friendship connection from across the miles that started through postcard exchange A very rewarding experience of a postcrosser’s life.

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HookedonPostcards, Canada

A lovely, heartwarming read. Makes me wonder ... beyond friendships, have romances blossomed via Postcrossing?

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AsterArt, Belgium

Wauw, that is wonderful. Enjoy your friendship.

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sepatuholig, Indonesia

❤️❤️❤️

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Cha13, United Kingdom

Quelle belle histoire d'amitié !

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Roz35, France

What a lovely story !
I'm so glad I read it because I sent a postcard to Nan some weeks ago :)
And I live near Normandie haha.

Wonderful story ! Thanks to Postcrossing we can be friend with people we would have never met/known the existence...

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Dapi, Taiwan

How nice!

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