August 8th

My wonderful friends & family-

1. Please , I beg of you, post a note on the blog and ask for help posting my letters. No one knows if I am alive or dead and the few who truly love my bitchiness are beginning to get concerned. Thank you very much (or as they say here" akpe ka ka")
2. You know, homesickness is a funny funny thing. Mail & packages from home are so bittersweet. You should see us on mail day. We honestly smell each other's letters and shout "America, America-it smells like FREEDOM". It kind of reminds me of what it must be like in jail on mail day. "It smells like the OUTSIDE, like Freedom". Same excitement, same sniffing of efficient looking stationary. Newspaper clippings especially smell like freedom. Funny thing, distance.

3. Rachael, your letter was perfection. And we were talking. It totally heard you. General note again. Stamps are so expensive. Letters get sent to M & D, then hopefully posted. It's the best I can do. I will write more personal stuff to you shortly. In the meantime, stay away from Fair Hill and do not write to me about the HARRY FREAKING POTTER UNLESS YOU ARE GOING TO SEND ME THE BOOK!!!! Are you kidding me!?!?!?!? I love you more than always for real.

4. Lipika, dear sweet friend. Your letter was fantabulous. Please send more Lippy tales and Bond Street gossip. I crave it!! There is a Baltimore girl here that I met briefly. She is headed home for a visit in September. I begged her to go to Bond and Lancaster and hold up a sign and yell "Heather sends love from Togo." Then to go to One- Eyed Mikes. Please buy her drinks. her name is Bonnie. She promised me she would. I will get everyone back on the drinks when I get home, I promise. I miss you all dearly. Send pictures of BBQ's etc. Real ones not email. Obviously that just ain't gonna happen.

5. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Mom & Dad. I love your love. I hope you know how rare it is and treasure it everyday. I miss backing in the glow of it and being your daughter. Noth that I;m not your daughter, but you know, giving you crap, being sassy, playing cards,etc. I know having parents like you is rare too. I am very lucky. I found this pagne to get you matching outfits, it is hilarious, but I need your measurements. For Mom, I need waist, hips, hip to knee. Dad, I need shoulders, chest, um, neck to waist????? In metric please. Just a shirt for Dad and a skirt for Mom. It will be like the square dancing days.