Dear Clare

As dictated by Ella, if she could formulate and refine her thoughts clearly.

Dear Clare,

It was quite kind of  you to say that I was wonderful to have in class, despite the fact that I cried through four solid classes. For that, I’m truly sorry, and somewhat embarrassed. It all started when you splashed me, and that made me mad. Mom told me, however, that your job was to splash me and I shouldn’t take it so personally. We still had fun and you made me laugh, but when I wasn’t laughing, I was crying, and attempting to leave the pool. Sorry about that. Now that swimming class is over, I regret all of the crying I did, when I could have been having fun, like we did in the first half of the session. I don’t know, maybe I needed more sleep or a snack, maybe I was just plain grumpy, but I sure wish I’d made better choices. I hope you will accept this fish that I designed for you as a token of my appreciation and forgive me for my crazy behavior pool-side. Good luck at college. I’ll miss you!

Sincerely, Ella