With Day-Hay off at a Y sleepaway camp for two weeks, camp mail season has begun. Usually, camp mail season is nothing to look forward to. My children only write home under duress (which explains how we once got an envelope from Kat that contained only the words, �I had to write�) or when something is wrong. So when I arrived home from the fireworks last night and saw I had two letters from Day-Hay, I became worried, especially when I saw that one of them was marked �Urgent.�

I opened the �urgent� letter. Yes, she had a problem. It read:

Dear Mom,

My suitcase lock won�t open. I know the combo is XXX but it won�t open. I have two sets of clothes but that is it. Help!!!!

~Day-Hay

Normally, I would not be too upset. I knew that her contacts stuff and her toiletries items were in her backpack, not her suitcase. What concerned me was that it has been beastly and unreasonably how for Wisconsin and I feared she had not been able to go in the lake. I�m still not sure she went in the lake the first day but, luckily, unlike her sister, she does not just leave me to worry.

There was a second letter. The second letter read:

Dear Mom,

Please DON�T pay attention to my last letter that�s last sentence reads help. My counselor helped but we broke the lock. At least it is cheaper than buying me a whole new wardrobe.

Love,

Day-Hay

These letters do lead to a very observations about Day-Hay and camp season in general. One, Day-Hay ultimately is a fairly good problem-solver. I�ll write to Day-Hay today and assure her that I do not care about the broken lock. If I had received only the first letter, I would have called the camp and told them to break the lock if necessary. I then would have told them that if the lock would not yield, they should break the suitcase. Day-Hay�s access to the clothes and items inside is more important than either a cheap lock or a cheap suitcase.

Second, despite her independent streak, Day-Hay does recognize when a problem is bigger than she can solve herself. I am pleased to know that she will seek help rather than struggle alone with a problem that someone else could solve.

Third, that child is my daughter emotionally more than I sometimes realize. When in distress or when trying to solve a problem, she is not very touchy-feely. She doesn�t want hugs, she wants action. The first letter was not signed �Love, Day-Hay.� The love was to be assumed.

Finally, my approach to camp mail season is correct. Mail from my children is rarely about good things. No news is good news. If there is mail, it�s bad news.

Do you think I can keep Kat from writing for a whole month?

LAST YEAR: Celebrating with a Bang Last year, like this year, we went to Mr. Philately�s office and saw fireworks over Lake Michigan from his balcony. It�s the best perk of having his office where it is.

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Copyright 2006 by Ellen