I remember with the utmost clarity when my sister, three years my junior, won a “treasure chest full of games”  from a cereal box. She was so excited and every day we would race home from school and check the mailbox to see if it had arrived yet.

Then the fate day came with a slim enveloped, addressed to my sister was waiting for us. When she opened, she found a paper checkerboard, paper checker pieces and instructions for 100 games you could play with a checkerboard. It broke her six-year-old heart and made us both a little more cynical.

That memory is why I love this story so much. This is a blog post posted to Verity Credit Union’s Verity Mom site last year. Sometimes I just reread it for the pleasure. I wanted to share it with you.

What’s in a Name

By Rosemary Garner

June, 2010

My girl loves her books. Big time. She is a voracious reader and sometimes I worry that she'll develop some kind of nature deficit disorder. Anyway, a couple years ago, we read a book series called Lucy Rose. Lucy and the main character shared so much in common that Lucy decided she must write to the author. Her letter began:

My name is Lucy Rose. I am eight years old and I've read all of your Lucy Rose books. Sometimes I stop reading and then wonder if you've been spying on my life because me and Lucy Rose have a lot of things in common.

Here they are:

1. We are both eight. 2. Our moms work at a TV station. 3. Our moms do yoga. 4. Our parents are divorced. 5. We are original thinkers. 6. Our grandmas collect picture frames from yard sales. 7. Our moms are not keen on small rodents. 8. We are often late for school. 9. Our moms say ay yi yi when they've got stress. 10. We were born with curls. 11. Excellent drawers. 12. Our moms don't believe in cable TV. 13. We are a family of problem solvers…"

She proceeded to list 53 things they had in common and ended the five-page letter with "PS: We both have freckles." It was an impressive work for a second grader. And while I tried not to get her hopes up, I felt confident Lucy would hear back from the author.

For weeks, Lucy looked for a letter in the mail. After school she would race to the top of the porch and reach into the red metal mailbox. But weeks turned to months and eventually the air of anticipation seeped out of her balloon. It was difficult to see my girl so deflated. People asked if she ever heard from the author and her shoulders would slump. She stopped checking the mail and finally gave up. Though it was hard to believe that such a letter hadn't generated a response, I tried to put a positive spin on it. I told Lucy that the important thing is to always do our best and be authentic, that the happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the most of what they have. In this case, she'd been able to enjoy the book series and she could take pride in the amazing letter she wrote.

Years later (in fact just last month), I received an email with the subject line, "Author letter." At first, I didn't recognize the sender. Then I read the message, "Hi Rosemary, I'm Katy Kelly, author of the Lucy Rose series. Yesterday Random House sent me a pile of reader mail. The best letter--in fact one of the best letters I have ever gotten--was from your Lucy Rose…To my horror, I noticed the postmark was from 2008. It had been languishing in the Random House mailroom. Your Lucy Rose has probably outgrown mine, but if you think she would enjoy having a phone chat please let me know a good time to call. I'll also send a copy of my new book, Melonhead…" As I read out loud, Lucy squealed.

Katy called the next day. Lucy picked up the phone and then morphed into the most mature and poised 10-year-old. She was so engaged in the conversation and went into great detail describing a concept she had in mind for her own book. Katy invited Lucy to visit her in Washington D.C., and said she would like to introduce Lucy to the people her characters were based on. They talked for 45 minutes. When Lucy hung up, she was beaming.

In the end, it turned out to be a surprising twist on the lesson of letting go. When we put our positive energy into the world, it needs to be for our own sake--whether it's a kind gesture or just heartfelt expression. It won't necessarily come back the way we think or hope it will. Sometimes it's even better.