My Two Writing Teachers colleagues and I are hosting the 13th Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge, in which hundreds of teachers participate in posting a story per day.

Dear Kids,

I am so proud of the way the two of you get along. Did you know that you are 100 times nicer to each other than your uncle and I ever were? We were terrible to each other!

Once, when your uncle was about eight years old, and I was nine, we were set loose to ski together on our own. Back then our parents did that all the time - they just dropped us off in the parking lot at Middlebury Snow Bowl, and picked us up at the end of the day. Everybody’s parents did that. Can you imagine?

Anyway, while we were skiing that day, my mittens got really, really wet. My hands were freezing - so cold that they were burning. You know that feeling? Well, when we went inside the lodge to use the bathroom, my brother, your uncle, left his mittens on the table where I was sitting to wait for him while he used the bathroom. So you know what I did? I switched our mittens, leaving him with the wet ones, and me with his nice dry ones. Since our mittens were the exact same black Kombis, I figured he’d never know.

Well, of course he figured it out. As soon as he put his hands back in his own mittens he yelped, “Hey! Give me back my mittens!” and he pounced on me, right there in the ski lodge. And with no grown-ups around to tell us to stop, we literally pounded on each other. Finally, I gave up. I returned his mittens and spend the rest of the day sulking—and freezing.

I’m telling you this because I know you would never fight with each other that way. I also know that if one of you had soaking wet mittens, the other would offer to take turns with the dry ones.

Right? Wouldn’t that be so nice? To be the kind of siblings who helped each other out?

I love you both so much.

Love,

Your Mom