The Great Letter Exchange

The bus doors opened and a scrunched-up face appeared before me.

“I had a bad day,” Declan stated as he stepped off the bus.

“Oh no!” I lamented, and as I waved goodbye to the bus driver I queried, “what happened?”

“I was crying.  I wanted to come home.”

“Oh, I am sorry bud.  Did something happen at school?”

“Stacey.  I saw Stacey.”

“Stacey, the girl who lives down the street, Stacey?”

“Stacey.  Stacey in the hallway.”

“You saw Stacey in the hallway?”

“I want to draw Stacey a picture.”

“Okay, let’s go inside.”

Within minutes a Christmas tree was produced.  The picture was dedicated to Stacey, from Declan.

“Here comes her bus, bud.  Why don’t you just run outside and give it to her now?”

We both looked at Stacey walking down the street to her house.

“I can’t.  I am too embarrassed.”

“Oh.  Okay.”

“I will wait for her to go inside and then go leave it by her front door.”

Declan and I stood by our front window, leaning forward to watch Stacey enter the threshold of her home.  Once inside, we stepped outside.  Me, standing in our front yard with my arms crossed, preserving body heat.  Declan crouched, and began to move stealthily down the street.  Turning back, he put his finger to his lips, “Shhhhh.”

Three houses down and what felt like an hour later, Declan reached Stacey’s front porch.  He bent to put the picture on the ground.  And then I gasped.

“Oh no, he just rang the bell.”

Declan turned from the front door and came tearing down their front yard.  Once he hit the street, I saw his eyes, large as saucers.  Arms pumping his little body as fast as it would go.

Stacey’s brother stood in the doorway of their home, head cocked to the side in wonder holding the new picture.  Stacey’s brother returned my wave as Declan poured through our front door.

“I DID IT!”  He rasped.

Content with his picture giving, Declan returned to his normal after school activities of bouncing on his trampoline with his headphones.  Deep into a bounce and song, he did not hear the doorbell ring 15 minutes later.

On the ground in front of the front door was a new picture.  This time from Stacey to Declan.  I looked around and realized – Stacey is much better at the stealth exit.

I gave the picture to Declan, who smiled from ear to ear.  He asked me to read it to him three times.  The he stood and declared, “I must go thank her!”

Five minutes later I was back in the front yard, with my arms crossed across my chest to preserve body heat.  Declan was at Stacey’s house in deep conversation.  A few seconds later he came bounding down the street with a big smile.

As I ushered Declan inside, I asked if he said thank you.

“I said thank you.  And then I told her she spelled my name wrong.  I told her it was D-E-C-L-A-N and she said it sounded like D-E-C-L-I-N because you don’t say Dec-LAAAN you say Dec-LIIIIN.  I told her it was okay.  I just wanted her to know how to spell my name.”

“Oh!”

“Yes.  I was also going to tell her the heart sticker here doesn’t look like a real human heart.  But I forgot.  I wanted her to know what a real human heart looked like.”

“Well, you said thank you – that’s what matters.”

And as I sat to go through book bags and homework, I listened to Declan lightly read his letter, repeatedly with a big smile on his little face 😊

I don’t know exactly what happened at school.  But I am pretty sure Stacey had an impact and Declan was grateful.

And their interaction totally made my day!