One night after a particularly trying evening, I went to put a snack in my first-grader’s backpack for the next day. Along with several rocks, sticks, and other assorted nature-treasures, I found a piece of folded paper. I opened it to find this:

At pickup, Arlo had said that Summerly had brought him a note as part of her Thankful Thursday routine in third grade that day, but I’d forgotten to follow up and ask him if I could see it. If ever there were a child who needed a note like this on a day like that, it was the recipient of this love letter. It took my breath away to the point that I almost fainted dead away, and I thought, “If I fell over right now, at least my day would end on a happy note,” then took those words literally and laughed uproariously at my own joke.