Years ago when Meggie was a student, her teacher asked the class a question. “Would anyone like to have a pen pal from England and exchange letters with them?”  In response, everyone (including Meggie) raised their hands.  The teacher handed each student a slip of paper with the name of someone to write to.  Meggie’s paper had the name of a girl named Philippa.  Then the class was given an assignment to write a letter, put it in an envelope and bring it to school the next day. The teacher would put stamps on the letters and put them in the mail.

Meggie couldn’t wait to write a letter and tell her new pen pal everything that she thought might be interesting. She began to write:
“Dear Philippa, My name is Margaret but everyone calls me Meggie.  I got this name from the book “Little Women”. Do you have a nickname too?  My dog is named Missy and sometimes my Mom calls ME Missy!!! Do you have a pet?”
At this point Meggie thought she should rewrite her letter because she didn’t want to misspell any words. Also she was mixing everything up with pets, activities and books.

Her letter was ready the next day to take to class. She rewrote everything so it seemed more sensible. And her dog Missy almost ate the letter when it was sitting on the kitchen table!  Luckily Meggie grabbed it in time and put it safely in the plaid book bag that she had gotten as a birthday present.  She handed in her letter to the teacher and so did her classmates.  The teacher told the class the letters would be mailed after school that day.  Meggie couldn’t wait to hear back from her new pen pal.