PHOTO: AMERICAN WOMAN MEETS AUSTRALIAN PEN PAL FOR FIRST TIME AFTER 55 YEARS

Touching moment as American woman meets her Australian pen pal for the FIRST time after 55 years of writing to each other

• American Linda Martin and Australian Wendy Norrie started writing letters to each other in 1958
• They met for the first time in person on September 19
• The two woman say the overwhelming experience is like 'picking up with an old friend from years ago'

Two women living on opposites sides of the world have finally met face-to-face after 55 years of being pen pals.

Linda Martin, originally from Wilcox, Nebraska, and Wendy Norrie from Queensland, Australia, started writing letters to each other in 1958.

It all began when Norrie’s teacher in Australia, Mr Wilcox, contacted the town of Wilcox in Nebraska to see if any students were interested in corresponding with the children in his class.

Emotional: Wendy Norrie, left, smiles to her new old teary friend, Linda Martin, right, after they meet for the first time since their communication started in 1958

Letters from the past: Norrie and Martin have written to each other about everything that has happened in their lives since 1958

See more Photos / details after the cut..

Life-long friends: They embrace at the airport like two old friends being reunited

The two girls, who were in fifth grade at the time, were matched up as pen pals and have been sharing every part of their lives ever since.

From the first time they started dating boys to getting married, their careers and children, they shared it all.

On September 19, the two had breakfast together for the first time.

And it was an emotional one. The two cried and hugged when Martin greeted Norrie at the airport in Arizona, where she now lives.

‘It is like picking up with an old friend from years ago,’ Norrie told Today News.

Tears of happiness: They have waited for 55 years to see each other for the first time

They e-mailed for the first time earlier this year after a Christmas letter from Norrie informed Martin she would be visiting the United States. 

Following a bus trip along the East Coast that included stops in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC, Norrie flew to Gilbert, Arizona, and has been staying with Martin and her husband.

Together they have visited area parks, gone shopping, seen exhibits of American Indian art at the Heard Museum, and they plan to tour the Grand Canyon, other Arizona cities and Las Vegas in the coming days. 

They are also learning about each other’s countries and finding similarities. 

While Norrie enjoyed her first authentic Mexican meal and a root beer float, Martin is still deciding how she feels about the savory Vegemite spread that Norrie shared with her.

‘I have to say it’s an acquired taste,’ she said.

Norrie has gotten to know Martin’s daughter, who has heard about her mother’s friend her entire life, and a party is planned for her to meet some of the Martins’ friends. 

In Vegas, they will visit Martin’s college roommate ‘so two of my closet friends are going to meet for the first time’.

But the women agree that the time spent catching up in person has been the most special.

‘We’ve had plenty of time to just sit down and talk,’ Martin said. ‘I saved the letters and we’ve been re-reading those and smiling and laughing  and talking about them.’

The newly-acquainted old friends plan to visit in Australia in 2015.

Norrie said, it is ‘really uncanny the same feelings we have on different things’. 

‘There are so many similarities in life, it’s as if we were meant to be writing to each other.’