Ready or not, HERE THEY COME! Thanks for your patience. I hope
you enjoy their introductory letters.
>From 'Jessie'
Hi my name is Jessie. I am in the fifth grade. I am a girl. My teacher
is Mrs.--- . By the way, she is the best teacher there ever was and she's
great at making it fun to learn!
My favorite color is purple. What's yours? Do you have any pets? I
have two dogs. I like to read about the past and the future. My cousin
wants to be a Doctor. I want to be a Lawyer and yell at people. Allen
says I'm good at that!
>From Daniel
I'm ten years old. My name is Daniel. I love to draw and play football.
I really love football. What do you like? Do you like to draw? I do.
Maybe I can draw you a picture. I have a turtle and a dog and a snake
for a pet. Do you have any pets? Write back please....
>From Joey
How do you do? My name is Joey. Please tell me more about yourself
and the newspaper business. My favorite sport is basketball. I like to
play Nintendo.
>From Aubrey
Hi. My name is Aubrey, and Amanda and I are sharing you. This is so
exciting talking to you online. I'd like to know about you and your great
grandparents. Oh! and thank you so much for the postcard, too. I know
we are going to have so much fun online. Thanks.
The teacher added: That's all for now! The children look forward to
hearing from you all.
>From an older adult
Dear Jessie,
Thank you for writing your very nice little note to me. I think it was very
well done and makes me want to write more. Mrs. ----- sounds like a
neat teacher; I'm sure she is proud of you. My favorite colors are violet
and purple-my wife likes those colors, too. We have a dog and a
cockatoo that is getting old. All he does is scratch. He is hard of hearing,
which makes for interesting times.
I'm glad you like to read. The past gives you some idea about how other
people did things, and gives you a clue of what to do in the future. The
present is where we are now. We all make our own futures, which
quickly, too quickly, become our pasts.
Actually, (as a lawyer) yelling will lose you more cases than you will
win. Lawyers have to be able to argue, that is, discuss the pros and cons
of a case. It takes reasoning ability and a calmness of spirit and a love
for justice. I'm sure you are good at a lot of things. You sound full of
vim and vigor and enthusiasm. That's great!
Please write to me what you are doing, about what you like to study and
whatever else you would like. I will try to be more prompt in answering
you. These last few days were hectic for me.
Dear Jessica,
It's nice to meet you this way. I'm glad to hear that Mrs. ---- is your
teacher. She sounds great. I'm in good health, thank you for asking. I
have three grown boys, but no grandchildren yet. We have an old dog
that thinks he is our boss. We really like cats better, but our dog is too
old and set in his ways to tolerate any cats.
My youngest son and his girl friend have four cats between them. I like
being a retired physician. I don't have to attend emergencies and I can
get all the rest I want. When I go to the hospital it is to get medicines.
I like your goals, they are very nice. If you change your mind as you get
to look at different professions, that's OK. Whatever you decide, go for
the best. A neo-natal nurse is a very good kind of person to be. I think I
will be proud of you.
Thank you for writing to me. I will look forward to your reply.
AnotherÉ.
Hello Daniel.
It was a pleasant time I had reading your letter to me. Thank you very
much. Football and drawing are favorites of yours. I like football also.
In fact, I did play football in high school and college. I was a fullback,
but never got to handle the ball. In those days the fullback was like a
guard or a tackle. All he did was block for guys who carried the ball.
As for drawing, I'm not very good. In fact I'm terrible. Freehand
drawing, that is. What I do instead of drawing is use my computer to do
graphics and illustrations.
As you work with computers during your school career I'll bet you'll
love some of the creative things you can do with computer drawing
programs. My favorite drawing software is called 'Arts & Letters'. It
has a lot of pre-drawn illustrations. These are called 'clip art'. I can, for
instance, call up an illustration of an airplane. Then I can do all sorts of
interesting things to change how the airplane looks. It's a lot of fun.
As for collecting things, I like funky menus. The funkier the better.
Last month I was in a place in Wyoming where the menu was printed
inside an old newspaper. The newspaper had stories that actually were
in newspapers from the late 1890s, when trappers and explorers were
just pushing into Wyoming territory. I got so interested in reading all
those stories the waitperson had to come by twice to get me to order.
The menu was in the middle of the foldout old paper. So if you ever run
across a funky menu, send it my way. Thank you for your
thoughtfulness.
Thanks, and let's keep exchanging information. I enjoy hearing all about
you, your school and your friends. And what you like and don't like.
Turtles? Snakes? My goodness! I'll pass on both of those. I live in an
apartment and no pets are allowed. But for several years, until he died, I
had a cat, properly named BearCat. Bear hated to ride in the car. It was
an annual battle of wills between Bear and me to get him his shots at the
vet. I miss Bear.
***
>From the teacher, addressed to all who wrote to her students
Dear friends,
My students have so enjoyed the exchanges we have had so far. I hope
you will continue to write to us!
My students are afraid you will forget about them and asked me to
remind you that we are here and we love your messages. If we owe you
letters, please forgive us; we will remedy that as quickly as we can! If
you 'owe' us letters, please write.
I leave you with this somewhat apt quote from LIVE AND LEARN
AND PASS IT ON (a lovely little book given to me by a former
student):
'I've learned that young people need old people's love, respect, and
knowledge of life, and that old people need the love, respect and strength
of young people.' (The writer was 85 years old.)