Dear Sister Thompson,

Have you ever read Dear Mr. Henshaw? It is one of my favorites.

Here is the Wikipedia summary:

Dear Mr. Henshaw begins with the book's main character, Leigh Botts, writing a letter to his favorite author, Boyd Henshaw. He continues to write him letters occasionally until the sixth grade when he is expected to write a report on an author. Naturally, he chooses to do it on Mr. Henshaw, and writes him a series of questions. Mr. Henshaw writes back with silly responses and some questions for Leigh to answer. At first Leigh is reluctant to reply to Mr. Henshaw, but his mother finds out and demands he reply because the author answered his questions. Through his answers to Mr. Henshaw, Leigh's personal matters are revealed, such as his struggles with his parents' divorce, his complex relationship with his father, being the new kid in school, and a mysterious thief stealing from his lunch. Later, Mr. Henshaw encourages Leigh to keep a diary of his thoughts and feelings, and the book then switches from a letter format to a diary, in which Leigh writes to Mr. Pretend Henshaw.

By writing to Mr. Henshaw, Leigh must learn to accept that there are parts of his life he cannot change. For example, his parents will never re-marry, people will continue to steal his lunch even though he has made a alarm for his lunch box, and that he can never count on his father to be available when he is needed but, he does pay support checks. He must deal with problems that many other children also have to cope with: feeling lonely because he is new in town, school assignments, etc.

I have a very close friend I email very often. I find myself not writing in my journal when I write to her, because I already wrote everything down to her. She has become my "Mr. Henshaw".

I am thinking of writing a memoir. I would call it Dear Sister Thompson. I would use my emails, journal entries (written and typed), and memories to write it. I am already compiling my writings. I know it is one of my "duties" to one day write a book.