A few weeks ago, Gaby came home from school, more excited than normal. She opened her backpack and pulled out a piece of paper insisting that I "Sign it right away!" I told her that I needed to read it before signing it. She rolled her eyes (something she's unnervingly good at!) and told me to go ahead, if I must.
The letter was to make parents aware that the 2012-2013 Student Council was holding elections for members and class representatives and that Gaby's class was also going to be electing a representative to the council. Gaby wanted to run for Student Representative From the First Grade. Run she did! Last week we found out that she won!
Today the student council had their first meeting. After the meeting I picked Gaby up from school. On the way to her gymnastics class I asked her about her day and about the student council meeting; in particular if she liked it and what kinds of things did they talk about? She broke out in a huge smile and said, "Oh mom! You wouldn't believe the massive brownies and icy cold milk we had! They were amazing, but yours are still better. Do you think the President of the United States gets milk and brownies? I think all of the kids at school should have milk and brownies!"
When we got home a bit later, Gaby asked me if she could write a letter to President Obama after she finished her homework. I told her she could write a letter and I asked her what she wanted to talk to President Obama about? She told me she wanted to make sure he knew how great brownies and milk are. Gaby also asked me if we could make some brownies for the President and send them to him, but I told her that the Secret Service has to inspect all the packages President Obama gets and that I thought they might eat the brownies. I didn't want to dash her hopes by telling her that the brownies would most likely be thrown away.
Once her homework was finished, Gaby set pencil to paper, and after almost three hours, she had finished her letter to President Obama. We helped her with spelling and several reminders to keep her words a bit closer together than she tends to. As the letter progresses her handwriting gets bit worse for wear.
I scanned in her letter and decided to share it out here. While her handwriting isn't perfect, for an almost 7-year-old it's pretty good. She tends to still get certain letters backwards; something we're working on. However, all those times I've made her sit down and write "lines" when she's naughty, has paid off. As a first grader, my own handwriting was just shy of hardly legible scratches. Sadly, it hasn't improved over the years.
The entire letter are Gaby's own words and thoughts.
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Gaby is serious about wanting to write a letter to Mitt Romney. She feels very strongly about the brownies and milk issue. On that note, I have a letter to pop into the mail to President Obama. Maybe several years down the line, we'll be in a much better frame of mind, as citizens of America, where we aren't so divided and almost hateful towards those of differing views and opinions and perhaps things might really be as simple as making sure there are brownies and milk for everyone. The "Milk and Brownies" platform sounds pretty good to me!
