Charlie’s first “Letter to the Editor”

As a blogger, an advice columnist for Slate magazine, and the humor columnist for Seasons magazine, I get my fair share of reader mail.

Much of it arrives digitally in the form of email, tweets, Instagram messages, and comments on Facebook posts, but I also occasionally receive actual letters, too.

It’s not always complimentary, and it’s not always polite. Occasionally is downright awful. But when someone responds to something I’ve written, even when it’s to tell me how stupid or insensitive I am, it means I’ve been heard.

Someone took the time to read my words.

It’s not my preferred type of response, but I’d rather have someone call me stupid than not read my words at all.

Charlie received his first bit of reader mail last week in the form of a letter from one of our neighbors who was lucky enough to receive his first edition of the Francis Drive Daily.

He was thrilled. Over the moon.

“It takes a village” is perhaps an overused expression, but when something like this happens, I can’t help but think how true that sentiment really is. The kindness of neighbors to respond so thoughtfully to Charlie can go a long, long way in the development of a writer.

You never know what ripples you will create with one small stone.

This small stone made a little boy very happy, and I suspect that it will send him back to work on the next edition of the Francis Drive Daily very soon.