In My Own Words

Jennifer and her friend Lynn got their students to write letters and draw pictures to send to our troops. She brought me a big stack of them on Monday, and I looked through them before sending them on. They’re absolutely priceless; the troops will LOVE them!

My favorite was the one that said “I think our class is going to try to send some Christmas packages to you, but don’t tell any other soldiers. I want it to be a surprise.” I laughed until my sides hurt.

Then there was the one signed “your new friend, Anonomous” (spelling by student…) I’ve seen some odd names in my years at the Board of Ed, like the twins whose first names were Malexus and Qulexus, so perhaps Jennifer and/or Lynn actually have a student named Anonomous – though I doubt it. I think the student truly meant “your new friend, Anonymous” I got the giggles over that one, as well.

There were a couple of touching ones – one child wrote “I lost my cousin over there. I miss him.” while another one mentioned Kevin Downs, a local Hero who was badly injured by an IED in 2005 and said “he lives on the same road my aunt does.” I doubt the soldier who gets that letter knows who Kevin Downs is, or that he was wounded in Iraq, but I knew the facts of the matter, and it touched my heart anyway.

There were 80 or 90 letter/picture combinations, so I split them in half and sent to two different Warriors who had requested letters from students in their profiles. For the return address I used “Fifth Grade Students, Mrs. Roberts Class” at the school’s address. I hope the kids get some mail back. I know our troops are busy, but these two specifically said they’d like to get letters from kids so they could write back. That would be exciting for Jennifer & Lynn’s students.

Thanks for reading my ramblings once again. Feel free to comment, any time. That lets me know somebody besides me, myself, and I are reading this stuff. Y’all have a good’un!