Dear ________,

I thought it might be fun to write a letter to you, because I like to write things. It’s hard to figure out what to write when I don’t really know you. Maybe someday I will really meet you and I can know your name, but right now I only know your face. Pen-pals? Maybe, but I prefer pencil. So how are you today? I am truly interested. I’ll listen, I’m good at that. Would you listen to me though? We can’t be having a one-sided friendship, now can we, _________?

Well, since this is my letter to you, I’m going to tell you about myself. I like sea turtles, which are not to be confused with regular turtles. They are SEA turtles. They live in the sea, not on land like regular turtles. They have flippers instead of feet, they eat jellyfish, and they are an endangered species. Also I want to tell you that I don’t have a specific favorite color. It changes every day to match my mood! Today it’s orange.

One other thing that is pretty cool about me is that I know American Sign Language, aka ASL. I’m in ASL one this year in school and I’ve been in ASL club at my middle school for two years in the past. I don’t actually have any deaf friends, but I do know some deaf people, even though I don’t talk to them. Well, they were both in my ASL class, but Carlos moved. Guam is still in the class. He’s deaf, but from another country, and so he’s in the class to learn more about deaf American culture, not the actual signs. Do you know any foreign languages? Like what, and what are they like?

One of the best classes is band. I play Clarinet and I love it a lot! I am very biased towards the Clarinet, and I really hat e trumpets. No offense if you play trumpet. It’s just…well, brass. Anyway, Jackie and Shannon and I have a lot of fun joking around in band class, and that is where I get most of my laughs for the day. Do you laugh a lot, _________? What feeling do you feel the most often? Well, we like to make fun of trumpets (blame them for everything, even unrelated stuff) and make fun of each other and talk about why the clarinet is better…but there are a lot more topics, like once was how Shannon would become queen of the world and what me and Jackie would do if that happened and all Shannon’s new laws to stop that from happening. Jackie and I have this agreement where I take the Clarinets and music to put away and she takes the stands to put away. I don’t remember exactly when this was established, but anyway, one day I asked her to take my stand back and she said only if I put away her Clarinet and music for her and so it was from then on that I took the music and Clarinets and she put away the stands. There’s also the great story about spidermouse, Mozart mouse and his funeral, deciding what color looks best on our band teacher, play-doh, Harry Potter vs. Clarinets, and MUCH, MUCH MORE. Who do you have your weird conversations with? Well, if you ever have weird conversations. Most people do, I think anyway.

But I can’t go any further into that for now, because that would include pep band too and that is a whole other story. Anyway, my other favorite class is English, just because it involves so much writing. I write all day, through most of my classes. Not band or Math of course. Band because, well, it’s hard to write and play at the same time and Math because if I don’t pay attention then I’ll be completely lost. What are your favorite classes? Are you good at math? I’m actually not as horrible at it as I make it seem, but I think it’s boring, which replaces talent.

My favorite thing to do of all time is dance. What do you do all the time? I used to be in Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and Pre-Pointe, but now I’m not because my parents took that away for two months—so far. That is a really long story that I would never be able to tell you on first meeting you. I guess you could say that is my deep, dark secret. Only one person my age knows that story, and I’m not telling you who she is. I will tell you that she is my best friend, even though I’ve known her for only a few months. We have so many inside jokes that it’s not even funny!—well, yeah, it is. But we confide in each other a lot too. Oh yeah, back to dance! I get off topic a lot…I’ve been dancing since I was three years old. I remember the day that my mom signed me up for dance perfectly. I’m so glad that I chose to dance, because it’s my favorite thing ever to do—well, I’ve already said that. I’m beginning to get redundant.

I like to wear tall, colorful socks. In band my and Jackie take off our shoes every day and have a contest to see who has the coolest socks. Most of the time we tie, but I won once with toe socks that had monkeys wearing “I <3 bananas” on them. That is an epic win! Which reminds me; in English class we’ve been reading the Odyssey. It’s a really good story. I like it a lot and I found out that there is a street in Lakeville, Minnesota (the town I live in right now) called “Itheca.” Yes, that’s as in Odysseus’ home spelled with an ‘e’. Ithaca; Itheca.

I’m writing a story about two girls named Be’erly and Mira. I’m hoping to get it published. To really get it published in a real book professionally. I can’t tell you much about it, because I want to keep the plot and everything secret. Well, until the people who write the book teaser give all but the ending away anyway, lol. I don’t know if the story is good at all actually, but I hope that people will be interested in it when it sells. Will you read it? Would you buy it just because it was mine?

I also write poems. Do you write poems? I like to share them, so if you want to see them, then just ask. I would love to read your poems too, if you write them. Actually I’m also pretty good at critiquing stories. If there’s anything you write and you want me to read, just let me know and I’ll critique it for you.

Well, actually I should get to bed now. But write a letter to me and tell me who you are and all about yourself, if you want to know me too. Thanks for reading this, even though you don’t know me!

Sincerely,
Emma Marie