It was the night before camp and I was that tired mom, the one who runs around the house at midnight trying to gather everything the kids could possibly need to spend a week away from home. I logged on to the camp website to see if there was anything I had forgotten, and there "it" was staring me straight in the face.  Number one on the list of things to pack - "a great attitude".  It was the answer I had been trying to find. I knew something had been missing from our house, but couldn't quite put my finger on what it was until I saw that list. The girls must have accidentally left their "great attitude" at camp the year before, along with that bathing suit and sandal that I could no longer find. I needed to get it back and I needed to get it back quickly, so I decided the best thing for me to do would be to write a letter to plea my case.

Dear "Great Attitude",  I am sorry to say I didn't know how good we had it when you were living with us. Please come home. Can it really be so fun there all alone at camp with the cobwebs and spiders? How about the lumpy mattress you have been sleeping on and the lack of air conditioning? If you come home, I promise to try not to embarrass you quite as much in the carpool lane by singing the wrong lyrics to songs that blare a little too loudly from the open windows of my car.  I also promise that if you return with the girls, I will tuck you in every night ... hug you, kiss you, and love you forever.

When I arrived to pick up the girls from camp a week later, it was all I could do to stop myself from searching the lost and found for my missing item. Instead I busied myself by taking the traditional camp photo, one of the only times each year that I make my girls "sit" for a photograph. If you look hard enough you will see that my letter worked and that the girls were not coming home alone.

hugs. kisses. love them forever.