Mrs Nosey

Is email snooping on my nine-year old's In-box a bad thing?

If it is, then I'm guilty of it. When I saw these two emails though, my heart melted. After school today - and before the final inspection at 6pm - I'll take Sapphire out for an icecream at Cibos (her favourite) and we'll walk Milly in the park until Love Chunks gets home.

And I'll give them both a big hug, and then call up my Dad to tell him how much I love him too.

-----Original Message-----

From: Sapphire Lockett
Sent: Monday, 13 October 2008 7:45 PM
To: Grandpa

Dear Grandpa,

Guess what two words I can spell?
Malevolent and Manoevrability.
Do you have any new words to spell?

Grandpa, what do you do when you don't know to either feel happy or sad because so much is going on?

I feel that way at the moment. Mum and Dad are really busy with all the drama about the house and I just wanted to ask you.

From Sapphire xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo (size five-out-of-ten hugs)

From: Grandpa
Sent: Monday, 13 October 2008 9:00 PM
To: Sapphire Lockett
Subject: RE: Spelling

My darling grand daughter

Spelling words first: (1) Which is correct - acommadation, acomadation, accomadation, accommadation, acommodation, acomodation, accommodation, or accomodation?

Perhaps none of them?

(2) Which is correct - embarass, embarras, embarrass, embaras, or none of them?

Now to your very thoughtful question (and I will try to give a thoughtful answer).

If I have a choice on how to feel about something, I always try to take the positive, or optimistic, way to feel because it makes me feel cheerful rather than sad, and if I try to convince myself that something is a GOOD thing then sometimes I can come to believe that it is, and then it really IS a good thing.

If you start off trying to think that something is GOOD, you can always modify it to not-quite-as-good-as-I-hoped, or not-really-all-that-good, etc., but it's pretty hard to start off thinking something is bad and then trying to convince yourself that it isn't. This might be a bit of a tangle of words - I'm sorry if it is, but I think you'll be able to work it out if you re-read it once or twice. If you can't, I'll try to explain it more clearly when I see you - talking usually doesn't cause as much misunderstanding as writing.

If a glass has some water in it, some people see the glass as half empty and others see the same glass as half full, yet it's the same glass. Half empty is the negative, or pessimistic, way to see it, where half full is the positive, or optimistic, way to see the same glass. When we look at a situation, I think it is best to VERY CONSCIOUSLY try to take the OPTIMISTIC or POSITIVE view of it. Not only does this help ourselves, but helps the people nearest and dearest to us as well.

You are naturally a cheerful, positive sort of person, and I really believe you are, and will be, very good at seeing the positive side of things (though sometimes it isn't easy, and we have to try very hard to do that).

The house, and the move, are VERY big things for Mum and Dad, and you might feel that your thoughts and feelings are being neglected a bit. I think that things might be a bit easier after the auction on Thursday. I know, for an absolute certainty from talking to Mum and Dad, that what is going to be best for YOU, the person they love more than anyone or anything in the world, is of the very greatest importance to both of them. They may not always be able to tell you that, but you know, and can always be sure, that this is true!

If you would like me to carefully try to remind Mum and Dad of how you might be feeling, I will. I won't mention it to them if you would rather I didn't. You might prefer to talk to them yourself.

We all love you HUGELY, Sapphire, and would do anything to help you in this pretty tough time.
Thank you very much for trusting me with this VERY important question. I hope I have helped a bit.

All my love,

Grandpa xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
(any sized hug you like!)