#tbt: From the Desk of Allison L. Grogan, age 6

Last night, I finished The Goldfinch, a Pulitzer Prize-winning, nearly-800 page novel. It was great: nearly as well-written as most of what's on this blog. Naturally, I immediately picked up a new summer read: School Days: A File System to Retain Records and Memories, Preschool Through Grade Six. It's basically a compilation of all the monthly update blog posts my mom surely would have written as I grew up had the Internet and blogging in general been invented at that time. I highly recommend you add it to your Amazon.com wish list immediately.

Aaaaaanyway, this #tbt is brought to you straight from the desk of this little lady:

At this point, I was in first grade, where I was "not interested in participating on sports teams," but "loved dolls," according to my mom's excellent notes. That year, I got straight As and, along with my BFFs, performed a skit called "The Peach" at our school talent show. I was "learning to tell time" and "getting to be a great reader. (Nerd Alert). I also got a haircut and won three ribbons -- one blue, one white, and one green -- at OOVOTO ("Our Own Version Of The Olympics") Day at school, though my mom didn't write down which events I dominated.

Apparently the best thing my mom could think of to write under "Special Memories" was this: 

Allison brought Mom an old newspaper from school (when the teacher was cleaning out shelves) because I recycle papers. 

It's clear that I was just as thoughtful then as I am now.

I was also blossoming into quite the artist -- 

I'm pretty sure that's a picture of Molly holding an American Flag and standing next to a giant lollipop. This was published in the local paper. No big deal.

I also had quite the sense of style, knowing just when to use a cute denim scrunchie and barrette to liven up a side pony.

But most importantly of all, I was an activist. I didn't mind telling people what I thought, especially when I could do so by letter. 

 Exhibit A

I'm pretty sure I had some help in coming up with the subject of this letter (ahem, Dad), but if that's true he could have given me a little more help with punctuation and editing for redundancy. I do think the last line was pretty effective, though. It's always good to end a piece of persuasive writing with a reminder to the reader that you'd like them to do what you just said. 

And for this little glimpse into the mind of Allison L. Grogan, age 6, and that bit of writing advice -- you're welcome!