31 Letters Literacy Project – Day 10 – “Fog”

Day 10 of the 31 Letters Literacy Project is all about FOG.

Yes, FOG.

Do you remember a time when FOG settled in?  Was it threatening and frightening… calm and lovely… or unsettling and eerie?  Gather your FOGGY thoughts and write about a FOG  experience in a letter to a special child.  This topic was inspired by the poem FOG, by Carl Sandburg, that we bumped into on Day 10 of 365 Days of Literacy for Kids:

FOG by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

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Fog can be everything from the stuff of horror stories to a bit of the romantic.  I’m sure there’s a FOG story in your mind somewhere.  Get your story on paper, in the mail and into the house, the hands, the heart and head of a special child.

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Here’s my FOG letter to my grandchildren:

Dear _____________________,

Hi, my little darlings!  I wanted to tell you that all the thinking I’ve been doing about my childhood, and all the times I’m remembering, must have made all my angels in heaven all excited… because this morning I went into my attic, walked over to one of dozens and dozens of old boxes, and picked up one that had the word “things” written across the side of it.  In that box are photos, cards I made for  my Mom and Dad, newspaper clippings (even the one announcing my birth!)… and so many other things!  It was like finding a treasure chest from the past!

Today, I am going to write about FOG… the kind that settles in and makes everything a little distorted, a little scary, a little eerie.  My FOG story happened the day my family was leaving California to head back to New England.  We were going to be driving all those 3,000 miles or so.  My Dad had bought a 1956 Chevy station wagon and fixed it up for our trip.  My Dad was an excellent mechanic… he could fix anything.

The day before we left our home, my friends had a little going-away party for me.  They bought me a little gift… a little glass aquarium with those little crystal things that grew into magic seaweed crystals.  I LOVED it.  I couldn’t wait to watch those magic crystal things grow, but my Mom and Dad told me that I’d have to wait because taking an aquarium with water in it was not going to happen on our trip.

I wasn’t happy about that.

I wasn’t at ALL a misbehaving child.  My parents didn’t allow misbehaving.  But with the temptation of those beautiful crystals from my friends that I knew I would never see again, I misbehaved.  The first night of our trip, I went into the bathroom of the little motel we were staying in… I filled the little glass aquarium… and I put the crystals in.  They didn’t grow right away, so I had to take my little gift out to the bedroom.  That’s when my parents saw what I had done.

They weren’t angry.  But they were disappointed that I hadn’t listened to them.  I think they felt sad that I was so sad about leaving California and leaving my friends, but that was no excuse for disobeying.  My Dad put the little aquarium on the top of the television for the night.

By the next morning, the magic crystals had grown up to the top of the water.  They were beautiful colors.  I remember this so vividly.

It was very, very early in the morning.  My parents wanted to get an early start on our journey.  We all got ready pretty quickly and then my Dad opened the motel door to pack our car.

All I remember seeing is FOG.  I had never seen fog like that.  I think it was because it was August in California… and the cool of the night had met the warmth of the early morning.

Then… my Dad and Mom were hurrying me and my 2 brothers into our station wagon.  I stopped to get my aquarium.  That’s when my Dad said that we weren’t taking my aquarium.

“WHAT?” I thought. The gift.  My friends.  The beautiful crystals.

But my Dad was saying all the grown-up stuff… like “I told you not to…” and “We’re not taking something that will spill…” and all that.  My heart sunk.

I remember looking at that little glass aquarium with the lovely crystals as my Dad shut the motel door.  Then all I saw again was FOG.

I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything.  I knew I had disobeyed.  So I just watched the FOG.

The car was pretty quiet.

Then, outside the car windows, I noticed the sunbeams piercing the fog.  Soon, the sun shone right through, like a giant layer of fog had been swept away.  The fog still settled into the grass and fields as we passed, like a little fog blanket, and I remember thinking how beautiful it looked.  But soon, even that layer had been swept away.

As I think back to that morning, I’m sure that watching the fog was kind of like a layer of my life floating away… very gently.  I was moving to a brand new place.  It seemed scary, like when I first saw the fog.  Then the sunbeams melted a little of that scariness away.  Then, there was a little blanket of fog to let me know that it takes a little time for the sun to come completely out.

I was leaving behind the world I knew.  I was leaving behind my aquarium with the lovely crystals, which was part of that world.

My sadness about the aquarium lifted a little when my Mom said that some other child would find my aquarium and take very good care of it.  I believed her.  I believe to this day that my crystal aquarium made another child very happy… maybe a child who needed it more than I did.

And to this day, I love FOG.  I love the calm, quiet eeriness of FOG.  I love watching the fog roll in from the ocean.  I love fog on early summer mornings… waiting for the sun to sweep it away one layer at a time.  Fog means change to me, and the feeling that change is OK.  Gently sweeping away…

Now, about the disobeying thing.  I didn’t like the feeling of disappointing my parents AT ALL.  No matter how sad I was or how much I wanted something… I always remembered that feeling of coming out of the motel bathroom with the little filled-up aquarium and tiny crystals on the bottom.  I knew I never wanted that feeling again…

I hope you like my FOG letter!  Now I’m going to share with you one of my favorite poems:

FOG by Carl Sandburg

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

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Maybe we can get together and write our own FOG poems someday soon!

Love you forever and ever,

Grandma Couto

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Join the magic of the 31 Letters Literacy Project. Share your memories, your legacy, in LETTERS.  In WORDS.  Remember that LITERACY is all about WORDS – Written, Spoken, Felt.

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MAIL TIDBIT of the Day:  At one time, the Post Office used steamboats to carry mail between post towns where no roads existed.







About Audrey

Audrey McClelland has been a digital influencer since 2005. She’s a mom of 5 and shares tips on her three favorite things: parenting, fashion and beauty. She’s also a Contemporary Romance Author.

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