Dear Spike's Friends:
Spike's first birthday will be here soon. All fretting aside about WHERE THE HELL THE PAST 10 MONTHS WENT, I would like to enlist your help in putting together THE GREATEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT OF ALL TIME.
No, it's not a pony.
So I know this is waaaaay presumptuous of me, but at least I'm not asking for cash. No, what I want is blood. Your blood. And sweat. And tears. And maybe a little bile, just for kicks.
Here's the deal: I would like to give Spike a book of letters from people all over this country and all over this world — from people who know her and from people who don't.
I think we'll call it, "Dear Spike: Letters From Your Village."
Catchy, no?
Here's how it works:
1) You write a letter to Spike. Appropriately, it will start "Dear Spike:" and end with "Love,(yourname)"
2) EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE LETTER IS UP TO YOU.
3) It can be very short or very long.
4) It can be very happy or very sad.
5) It can be very serious or very funny.
6) It can be about ANYTHING YOU WANT except...
6a) It can't be about me or Spike's mom, even if you know us.
6b) It can't be about how much you love or hate DearSpike.com, even if you really love it or hate it.
7) You send said letter, by May
8) I'll publish all the letters here at DearSpike.com.
9) I'll edit them all into one big, beautiful file.
10) I'll send them off to print.
11) Someday when Spike can read, she will receive a book written to her from people — many of whom she doesn't even know — whose stories will nonetheless touch her heart and make her laugh and make her cry and make her think and make her love and make her sigh.
12) It will be a beautiful thing.
So, OK, I know that right at this very moment, there is someone from Nottingham, England, who is saying: "Surely, this chap doesn't expect me to contribute to this bloody project."
Oh yes, I do. And I'm hoping — really, really hoping — that Spike also will receive letters from Omaha and Dublin, from Perth and Nashville, from Vancouver and Baden-Wurttemberg and Tampa and Lexington and Raleigh and Nasiriyah all the other places from which people have stumbled upon this blog and then, FOR SOME STRANGE REASON, thought it would be fun to come back again and again.
And if you know people in Bejing or Mexico City or Mumbai or Capetown or Toledo (Ohio or Spain, either way) or anywhere else on the globe and you think they'd enjoy participating in this little birthday experiment, would you invite them along?
OK, now I'm all giddy. This is so crazy, it might just work.
Love,
spike's dad
14 comments:
Tampa Bay Florida will be proud to take part. Give me a little time to come up with something post worthy. I'm not the writer Spikes dad is.
What a fabulous idea. I'm in. We'll be in Hawaii for two weeks, so I'll work on in after that. :-) Hope Spike has a wonderful birthday...
I'm in. How exciting!
I will be thrilled to send Spike a letter. Although Fremont isn't that far away (ahem), I'll be glad to forward this onward as well. Much love to Spike, Spike's mommy and Spike's dad.
How can I resist - Grand Rapids, Mich., is sure to be among the "top 10 most exotic locales" included!
How about a letter from a twenty-something gal in NYC?
This is a cool project. Believe it or not, I've sometimes wished that you, Spike's Dad, would write ME some advice.
It'll be a trip to write some musings down for Spike.
Danielle:
Heck yeah! Spike may someday be a twenty-something gal in NYC -- and she'll need all the advice she can get!
Hi, I stumbled upon your blog one day while Googling something or another and I've been reading ever since! Im in Ireland and had a baby girl too last July so its funny to read Spike's progress as I watch my little girl change too week by week. I'll send in a letter for her birthday from us here in Ireland! if you're interested , there's some pics and stories about our little one at sarahnoodles.blogspot.com.
Ooooo, I'm in, I'm in!!! I promise not to use bad words.......
It's almost finished...I'll have it by 11:59 PM...
Can't remember how I reached your blog... this is so sweet, I like very much what your doing for this miracle called Spike and the idea of colleting all these letters is such a great birtday present!!
I have read some posts and some wew so touching... made me cry and laugh... :)
I wish you all the best from Italy ♥
OK, get ready for a little story from Great Auntie Karen. I am a village great auntie.
I'd love to read some of the letters if you thought of posting...I think it would be neat to see what people in Dublin and Toledo said.
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