Brielle Girl's Italian Pen Pal Visits Shore Area

Seven-year-old Abbie Genessee from Brielle has a very special pen pal. She met him when her family visited Italy two years ago and since then the two have been emailing each other regularly. "His name is Francis," Abbie said. "He's really old. but really nice. He's kind of like another grandpa."

"I met Francis when we visited some kind of church. He was sitting up front and he waved at me so I went up to say hello," said Abbie. "He spoke English pretty good and told me he worked there and lived there, which I thought was pretty cool. He asked me my favorite thing about my visit, and I said all the food we had tried. Francis said he really liked pizza and I said it was my favorite too."

The two friends exchanged emails and started writing each other regularly. "I told him about my school and stuff I was doing. He told me about his busy days and about his work. He taught me a lot about religion, too."

Abbie got a surprise when Francis said he was coming to New York in June and would come to Brielle to visit her. "Francis showed up at my house in a big car with a driver and some of those cardinal guys he was friends with. He picked up my mom and me and we all spent the day at different places I liked."

Abbie and Francis walked around Bay Head and enjoyed some treats at the bakery. Then they went to the boardwalk in Point Pleasant. "We all had pizza for lunch. Francis and his friends really liked American pizza," Abbie said. "Then we went to an arcade. Francis rocked at Skee-Ball. He scored so high it was like he was infallible. He let me keep all his tickets too. I tried to talk him into going on some rides, but he said he wasn't dressed for it. We had a really great time anyway. I was sad when it was time for him to leave, but he promised he would visit again sometime." 

This week Abbie got some great new. "Francis will be visiting Washington D.C. in December so I invited him to come to our house for dinner. Mommy said he can bring his cardinal friends too," Abbie can't wait to see her friend again. "I'm so excited. It's like an early Christmas gift!"

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