The other day I came across this note that my niece, Jessica, gave me.

Here’s the backstory: Eariler this year Dallas and I went to Hawaii. I always buy my nieces gifts while we are there. For Stephanie I got a cool Quicksilver tshirt and some jewelry. Jessica loves Hello Kitty, so I got her a whole Hello Kitty Hawaii themed gift: T-shirt, candy, Post-It notepad, etc. All Hello Kitty Hawaii.

A few months went by before we saw them and gave them their gifts over the summer. Steph loved her gifts. Jess is as shy as ever so I didn’t really get much feedback on whether she liked it or not. Then out of nowhere she passed me this note. It says: “Me and Stephane liecks this Post It note.” The last part was a little hard to read and I remember my brother, Stephanie and I all huddled around trying to figure out what it said. Jess was off to the side and, of course, would not tell us! Finally we got it right and she gave a smile and a nod. I didn’t want to tease her because it was so nice, but I had to say, “I’m so glad you learned how to write, Jessica, so now we have a means of communication!”