Dolly and the gingerbread man

Back in my teaching days it was Flat Stanley. We hadn't gotten Pinterest-quality creative yet. We probably read about it in some teaching magazine. For which we had to wait a whole month to get creative again. But it worked. And we probably used our own creativity a bit more because of it and it didn't hurt at all. Since we had just read Flat Stanley at home right before Andrew's surgery at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, we took his flat friend along to the hospital with us. I think that was a first for the nurses and doctors but they were accommodating.

Nowadays it can be a flat anything.

Victor's class spent the month of December reading different versions of the Gingerbread Man. Victor tells me that Gingerbread Girl was his favorite because she doesn't get eaten.

On the last day before Christmas break, Victor came home with a Gingerbread Man that he had decorated himself and a letter instructing us to mail it to someone, requesting a postcard be sent to the class in return.

I asked Victor who we should send it to.

He said, "Dolly Parton!" As if that should be the easiest task in the world, with the highest degree of success in follow-up. Which is what the class is looking for, right?

I suggested, "How about Mariana in New York?"

His rebuttal was, "That's too close! I want to send it far, far away."
(Mariana was heart-broken to hear this.)

"How about Andrew and Sarah in Kentucky?"

"No!"

"Okay, how about Cousin Molly in the faraway midwest?"

"No, that's too close!"

"Aunt Katrina in Utah?"

"Is that far away?"

"Oh, yes, veeerrrrrryyyyyy far away. Utah is where you were born. Remember the story?"

"No, not Utah, either!"

"Okay, Victor, so where should we send your Gingerbread Man? You have to send it somewhere."

Not to be deterred, Victor responded with, "How about Tennessee?"

Defeated, I consulted Google. Sure enough, I found Dolly Parton's address in Tennessee.

I did feel as if the letter to Victor's soon-to-be friend Dolly needed a bit of explanation so added my own note to the back.

This gingerbread man is being sent to you 

by Victor King. Victor is a 5 year old visually 

impaired little boy. When Victor brought home

his gingerbread man with instructions to mail it

to someone, he immediately said, "Dolly Parton!"

Victor loves music and has many musical

favorites such as Elvis, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra, 

and the Beatles. with perfect pitch, he 

is very selective but Dolly Parton is on his

list of favorites. He owns a CD and often requests

her music on Alexa. He was thrilled to learn

that it is because of Dolly Parton that he gets

Braille books in the mail. He has dreams of 

visiting Tennessee someday. So, I am honoring

his wishes by sending this gingerbread man to

you and hope you'll be able to send a postcard

to his class.

And, once again, I wrote a letter of warning to his teacher. I do what I can.

Who knows? This is my sweet talking 5 year old. And she does send him books through the Dolly Parton Imagination Library so we'll see.

To be continued...