Here's to the Sunny Slopes of Long Ago: May 2013

Eliana had a very special visitor arrive in the mail last month, sent by cousin Sara. Our visitor was Flat Stanley. Maybe you've heard of him? I hadn't. Apparently there is a whole Flat Stanley Project that is sweeping the nation. He is a book character, who gets flattened by a bulletin board. That was enough to terrify Eliana and keep her awake at night. She tearfully confessed she could not sleep because she was worried she was going to be flattened by a bulletin board, and then asked, "Mommy, what is a bulletin board?"

Eventually she got over her fears and embraced the Flat Stan Project. The idea is to photograph the little guy in various places and then send him back to his home of origin. Eliana has a vivid, at times bordering on obsessive, imagination. Flat Stanley became real to her, almost like another sibling. He was a real presence in our family, and also the subject of many squabbles between Eliana and Leah. They fought over him constantly, often resulting in Stanley going into isolation to put a stop to the controversy. Another obstacle was that they kept losing Stanley. He's not that big, and he's flat, and the kids like hiding things but never remember where they hid them. I spent a lot of time searching for Stanley; more time than I want to admit. But, I was proud of myself because on the night before we were to mail Stanley back home to Sara's elementary school, he was safely on the kitchen table, along with the book we spent hours creating about his adventures. I really don't know what went wrong, because the next day when I was about to take him to the post office, Flat Stanley had disappeared. He has not resurfaced, and Eliana believes he is hiding because he really wanted to stay with our family and not go back to NY. Although the Flat Stanley project is about to be over for Sara's class, Eliana is already planning Stanley's next adventures when he resurfaces.

Sara, I'm really sorry that we lost your Stanley.