A Letter to Papa

Rhetta loves her Papa. She talks about him all the time, what little she knows about him. Rob has drawn a crude family tree with her so she knows his place in the family. She knows his name and that he used to live here with Me Me when she was little. When they finished the genealogy lesson she provided drawings of many of our family members on the sheet. Most of them are whole bodied drawings. One of them she left as simply a head. When asked who that was she said, "That's Papa. He's hiding." She later drew a tent around his head and he's saying "Peek-a-Boo!"



So, last night she decided out of the blue that she wanted to call Papa. I had to explain to her that I don't have his phone number. I suggested she write him a letter to ask him for his number, then she could call him. She wrote the letter then insisted we call him, not understanding. More dialogue and we addressed/stamped an envelope; she put it in the mailbox herself and raised the flag.

This morning she mentioned it upon waking, saying "Mailman is going to pick up Papa's letter today." This prompted a short geography lesson. I explained all the different stops the letter had to make before it got to Papa's mailbox: 2 mail trucks, 3 large delivery trucks, 2 major cities and a plane ride. She seemed impressed. We also took out the atlas and traced the route her letter would take with our fingers. We read the names of the cities and states it would travel through. This worked well to kick in her patience and resolve. So she waits for a response.

I don't know if he reads my blog but in the off chance the letter does not get to its destination and he (or someone he knows) does happen to read my blog then he'll get it regardless. Here it is:

Dear Papa, (Roger) I'll
call you. Will [may] I call you?
What is your phone
number?
Example:
970-XXX-XXXX
Love, Rhetta

(she added the Tinker Bell stickers at my suggestion)