My Elementary School Pen Pal

I am writing to share some sad news that I haven't quite processed yet, and hope that by writing I can ease some of the pain. Some of you know that I am a pen-pal/mentor for a 3rd grader in Missouri. Her class is part of a program called "In2Books" where they pick a book to read, and adult penpals from around the country read the book with them, and then we write each other about the book. It's supposed to help the child develop critical thinking skills, as well as practicing using the computer, spelling, and grammar. It's a great program.

My penpal and I read this book called "A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt" and we had just written our first set of letters about it. My pen pal and I share some things in common, we discovered. Just like the little girl in the book, we are big sisters to precocious little brothers and we talked about that.

I got an email from her teacher this morning saying that my pen pal was no longer in the classroom because she had moved. Apparently the mother was at work on Christmas Day (a tragedy in itself), and the kids were left alone and one of them decided to cook breakfast and accidentally started a fire that burned their house down. Luckily everyone escaped unharmed, but there was too much damage and the family had to move.

I am so upset about this, probably projecting my own memories of my own house fire when I was in elementary school (3rd grade too, actually) and my own family having to move. I wish I could talk to my pen pal and tell her I understand what she is feeling and how scared she must be about losing her home and having to move and change schools, but the privacy policies that (rightly) protect the kids don't let me do that.

I guess I am just writing to share this and hope that you can please send some healing energy to my pen pal and her family. I am literally in tears writing this....