My new pen pal (via email) is a 5 year old girl living in Richmond, VA named Sophia. She is the daughter of a couple friends of ours. G recently visited them when she picked up our new puppy, Cairo, and Sophia was smitten by Cairo, despite previously being rather cool on dogs. Thus Sophia started writing us these cute emails asking about how Cairo has been doing. We’re now moving on to other subjects, such as cats, and I have to share this line from her last email about the rationale behind the name of one of their cats (who she previously described as an “old old lady”):
Momee and Dadee named Sadee aftr the beetuls song sexee sadee.
Thank you for being such a gracious penpal. Sophia would write to you five times a day if I allowed it. She feels very special that “Cayro’s” Daddy is writing to her. (And, though my attempts to correct her spelling are met with her defiant cries of “I spell how I want to spell because I am me like Pippi is she” — oh, how I regret introducing her to Pippi Longstocking!– I do try to convince her that people like their names spelled correctly.) When I asked her why she was so taken by Cairo, I got this: “Because he has a tender spot in my heart place.”
Hey, she’s great fun to correspond with. I didn’t get her Pippi reference, the part about the monkey, “mistr neelsun.” But I totally understand her stance re: spelling. It’s sort of bullshit, you know?
Sophia can send me as many emails as you can take.
And that whole “tender spot in my heart place” hits me in my tender spot in my heart place.