"Dear Audrey"

Two days ago, on my lunch break, I was talking on the phone with my brother Aaron. While chatting, I came across two loose-leaf pieces of notebook paper on the sidewalk, wet and streaked with dirt. Being the curiosity maestro I am, I picked them up and flipped them over and saw that they were two handwritten letters, by two different people, to an Audrey. After reading them -- and from the shapes of the block letters -- I gathered middle-schoolers must've written them. Had they come from two brothers whose mother had told them to thank Audrey? Were they two friends or classmates in school?

I asked Aaron's advice: take them with me so I could study them, be amused by them, and ponder them and even write about them on this blog, or leave them there in case they hadn't been handed over to Audrey yet or in case Audrey accidentally lost them in a gust of wind while walking to her car or something? Aaron's answer: leave them. The writers or recipient might be back. So I tucked them in against a tree trunk with some low-hanging branches and pressed them flat and hoped they'd find their way to their rightful place.

I talked about the letters with Gus, my boyfriend, and how touched by them I was. He also loved the mystery of it all. Who the heck was this Audrey anyway? Who wrote them and why?

Yesterday, I decided I'd go back to that same spot and see if they were still there. If they were, I was going to snag them and record Audrey's "story" and immortalize her on this blog. But when I got to the tree they were no longer where I'd tucked them. Had they blown down? Had someone indeed come and claimed them? Had another nosy passer-by snagged them, curious about the same things? So I peeked around for a minute, and -- lo and behold -- scattered on the sidewalk and in a pile of wet leaves and in the street were not only the two letters I'd seen the day before but an additional four letters, all to Audrey, all thanking her for the books.

Here they are -- Audrey, whoever you are, I hope you stumble upon this someday. And keep in mind, dear readers, that these letters were written in big block letters and filled up the notebook pages. I also left all spelling, grammar, syntax, you name it, as is.

Dear Audrey,

Thank you for the books. It was really nice of you to give us money so we can read more. At frist we had no good books to read untill you gave us money to buy new and better books so now I have good books to read.

Sincerely Jerard

Dear Audrey,

I wanted to take the time to thank you very much for the money you donated to my English class. In my class we read for half an hour every day, some of the students read more in the first semester of school this year then they have in their entire life. It really means a lot to me to have variety in the books we read, sometimes our school library doesn't have the best selection. I really appreciated your help. Getting new books for my school is a privilege. We don't have the most money. Thank you very much!

Sincerely,
Gabby

March 30th, 2011

Dear Audrey,

Thanks for the generous and thoughtful donation of money to our prodject. My english class really appreciates your help because of you we have multiple choices of books to read from rather than the small selection we had before. My reading has advanced from constantly reading new books, my knowledge and perseptions of things have broadened. You are a very respective, bold individual. Thanks for your curtacy.

Sincerely,
Angeleesha

Dear Audrey,

Thank you very much for donating money for the betterment of our education. A lot of kids didn't have the opportunity to read and buy books. We got a lot of books for our classroom and we have got a really great reading program going for us. We read at least half an hour a day in class and even more at home. I've already read over fifteen books this year. It's been a great school year and we really appreciate the donations.

Sincerely,
Desiree'

Dear Audrey, thank you for giving us the books there were a few books I like but some of them were boring but it was still a good thing to give us because before this I really never read books before we got all of these so I say thank you.

Sincerely, Austin

Dear Audrey,

Thank you for donating money to buy books for our english class. Mr. C was so happy to get the books for our class. I read waiting for normal and I really enjoied that book. I enjoied how in that book the girl over came alot of problems by herself. I havent had a chance to read any other books but im sure that I would enjoy them.

Sincerely,
Chaquira

And now my turn: thank you, Audrey, for what you've done for these kids. Thank you for inspiring them to read and for giving them the opportunity to engage in a dying art form. And thank you to all of you students for showing your gratitude, and to the teacher or teachers whom inspired and prompted their students to express appreciation.

My heart is very touched by all of this!