Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado, click
here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.
Love, Your Friend, Ronee' (Letter #2 To Kendra Williams, By Ronee' Le-Anne, aged 11) by Karen Lynn Vidra, The Texas Tornado
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Rated "G" by the Author.
Ronee' Le-Anne Reaux, 11, writes a second letter to her new friend in California, Kendra Williams, who lives in Soulsbysville with her large family. She writes the following letter while on vacation; she is in Anchorage, Alaska, as she writes the letter.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004~
Dear Kendra:
Hi! This is your friend, Ronee' Le-Anne, writing! How are you? Hope this finds you in (reasonably) good health and happy!
Guess where I am as I write this on my laptop: no, I am NOT at my house in Nashville, Tennessee...me, my brother, Johnny, and my maman and daddy are on VACATION! We are in ALASKA!! We are currently in Anchorage, where we are staying with friends of maman's, and they are very nice! Their names are Michael Doucet and Jenna Whitson, and they are engaged! (They are getting married later this year, on September 11.) Michael works as a bartender, but right now he is off his job because Jenna got hurt last year, and she just got out of the hospital after being in there for FIVE loooooooooooong months! She had some bad injuries; and doctors aren't sure as to whether she will fully recover. She had a badly busted arm and leg, and right now she wears a brace on her leg and can't move her one arm very well. She has been having therapy every day, and it's really been hard on her! (Before Jenna got hurt, she worked at a bank. Now she is disabled, and she is having a very hard time dealing with it; so please keep her in your prayers, okay??)
We are on an Alaskan cruise; and we WERE supposed to continue with it today, but the boat had some sort of mechanical problems, so we have to wait until tomorrow afternoon; and until then, we are here in Anchorage. But we are still having a good time; and now that daddy is back home we are doing much better! Daddy had an asthma attack that put him into the hospital for a few days, and we were worried that we would miss our cruise; but then the ship captain called to tell us about the problems with our ship; so it looks like we got to spend a little extra time with Jenna and Michael. Daddy is all over his asthma attack, but he is on new medication, and so far it seems to be helping his breathing.
Kendra, you can't believe how BEAUTIFUL Alaska is! So pretty...the majestic mountains, the smell of clean, crisp air, the wildlife (we have so far seen bears, moose, caribou..they look like very big reindeer!.., reindeer and regular deer, wolves, eagles (gold and Bald Eagle!) and hawks (also crows and ravens; ravens are bigger than crows), and of course, squirrels, chipmunks, raccoons, and oppossums), and the NORTHERN LIGHTS!! We saw a movie about the Northern Lights, and according to Michael, there are supposed to be some auroras tonight, so we may see the REAL THING tonight!! Oh, I HOPE so!! That would be TOOO KEWL!!!!
We have gone shopping, and I got myself a porcelain Inuit doll (she was the small size; she only cost $25) to add to my doll collection, and she is really pretty! I also got a parka like the Inuit wear (maman got me that!), and I also got some postcards and some books about Alaska! I also got a shirt with the Northern Lights on the front, and I also got some t-shirts with Alaskan scenes and animals on them. (Don't worry; I am NOT spending ALL my money; I have money left! I just gotta' be careful, or I will be broke before the cruise can continue or before I get back home to Tennessee!) I also had salmon here, and I even tried whale and caribou and moose (the moose and caribou weren't TOO bad, but the whale was too tough, and it was disGUSting!)! So I am really having a time up here in Alaska!
It is chilly up here; temps in the 40's for highs, and 20's or teens for lows. BRRR!!!! But Jenna told me that it is a LOT colder where she is from: she was born in Barrow, which is about as FAR NORTH as you possibly can go in Alaska, and up there it is in the TEENS for HIGHS right now!! BRRRRRRRR!! I'd freeze my tailfeathers off if I had any if I was up THERE! LOL
How is the weather over there in California? How are you and your girls doing? Hope you are all well; and I hope that the weather is behaving itself too! I have heard that you are getting another girl in a few weeks from Africa! That is too cool! What is her name, and is she disabled or able-bodied? You have GOT to tell me about her the next time you write! Maman told me you were getting another kid into your family and that it was a girl from Africa, but I forgot her name and where she is from!
I really hope I can meet you and your daughters one day, Kendra. You seem like a very nice lady, and you have been nice in writing not only to maman, but to Jenna. Jenna loves getting mail, and since she is basically stuck in the house right now (excepting to go to therapy or doctor's appointments), she really could use some MAJOR cheering up! There is but ONE teeny tiny small problem: Jenna and Michael AREN'T Christian. Jenna believes in the Great Spirit, and Michael is Wiccan. But they don't force their beliefs on the family, and we don't force ours on them; but it still makes me sad because they don't know God. But I will pray for them; they said we could, but right now they feel that they don't need God because of all the problems Jenna has had, and they find it hard to trust in God right now.
We haven't gone to church here yet; I miss going to church. Maybe when we come to our next stop, we can go to church. I miss my church, Christ Community Assembly of God; and I miss the pastors (especially Pastor Bruce!), and I miss my friends there! I also miss Nicole and her mom, Michelle; and I know they are still having problems dealing with the death of the father, Arturo. I know it was recently the anniversary of his death, and so I have been praying for them, too. I haven't heard from her yet, but I will send her a postcard tomorrow morning, before we leave to go back to our ship. I am also sending postcards to M'buti and Roberto, M'Kaya and Franklin Jefferson, and to my teacher at Eastview Elementary. I am also sending a postcard to my brothers and sisters who are still back home and didn't get to go to Alaska, to let them all know that we are all okay and are having fun up here.
Well, Kendra, I do believe that I have bent your ear long enough; so it is high time I shut up and quit. Besides, my fingers are yowling at me right now; think I may have to hit the ibuprofen to make my stupid arthritic fingers (and everything else!) stop hurting!! Until I hear from you, you take care of your girls (and YOURSELF!), and God bless you always! I just wanted to let you know that I was thinking of y'all while we are up here in the Great White North Country in Alaska and to let you know that I am alive and am having a BLAST! Write to you again soon!!
(((HUGS))) and much love, your friend in Tennessee (who is now in *ALASKA*!), Ronee' Le-Anne Marie Reaux, aged 11. :D
Let this coming of age story of a boy named Bean take you back to a simple time. Set in a small southern town in the 1960's, encircled by a river and gleaming white cotton fields.
The familiar lament of dual-career parents raising children is, "I just can't do it all." The Libra Solution provides an alternative - a more satisfying and sustainable work and life approach - to the overwrought modern day norm.
Wednesday, April 21, 2004~
