Sasha the Rebel Cat: Letter #4
Last night, I sat down to watch Sasha’s conference on cable. Turns out, I didn’t have to because Sasha’s conference made the national news!
And so did Sasha. Continue reading
All posts by Susan
The Well-being of Domestic Cats
Sasha the Rebel Cat: Letter #3
Dear Eli,
Remember how Sasha was looking for a conference on the well-being of domestic cats?
Well, it looks like she found one. Continue reading
Sasha Speaks Up!
Sasha the Rebel Cat, Letter #2
Dear Eli,
So remember how I told you that Sasha was reading the newspaper? So naturally, I asked her what she was doing. Now, Sasha is normally a very skittish cat. Usually when I catch Sasha doing something she’s not supposed to be doing, or that she even thinks she’s not supposed to be doing, she scampers away and hides under the bed.
Not this time.
Sasha took off her glasses (did I mention she was wearing glasses?) and she said, “I’m trying to keep up on world politics. Especially any global conferences on the well-being of domestic cats.”
I was stunned. Continue reading
First Summer: Sasha the Rebel Cat
Sasha the Rebel Cat was the first camp story I wrote for my son, Eli. I didn’t want to bore him with the trivialities of the everyday, so I applied a little imagination to my letters. I hope you enjoy them, and I appreciate your comments.
I’ll be posting a new letter from this story every Tuesday and Thursday.
Dear Eli,
I hope you are enjoying camp, and making friends! Things here are pretty much the same as when you left. Your dad and I are working, your brother is enjoying day camp, and not much is new.
Except for Sasha, your cat.
They say that cats have nine lives? Continue reading
Hey! My First Media Coverage!
An article about my “While I Was Away at Camp . . . ” series appeared in he local Sun-Times! Kinda fun to be in the paper.
“Highland Park mother Susan Shulman has found a novel way to keep her summer-camp letters intriguing for her two sons.
She puts on her fiction-writing hat and lets her imagination — and familiar household characters and objects — run wild. Each day’s installment brings a new twist to the tale that unfolds over the course of the camp stay.
Shulman stumbled on the camp-letter medium by accident when her eldest son Eli went away to camp for the first time six years ago.
“I sat down to write that first letter by email,” recalled Shulman. “‘Dear Eli, Hope your stay is going great. Hope you are making new friends.’
“It wasn’t all that interesting,” said Shulman, who wondered how she’d keep her updates from the homefront from becoming yawners.
Then she recalled her father’s letters when she went away to camp.
“They would start off newsy, and then he would talk about my dog, Smoocher,” said Shulman, noting he created an over-achieving dog who outperformed her in every way, while an imaginary sister who came to stay for the summer would get into a heap of trouble.”
Nate Responds to My Latest Camp Story
This summer I decided to write a story about how four of Nate’s stuffed animals (his ‘kids’) decided to form a rock band. I’m calling it “Lambie on the Lam.” Well, apparently I didn’t quite nail the characterizations and other traits of some of his stuffed animals. Here’s his recent literary critique of my story:
There are some problems with Mom’s story. 1. I don’t have a kid named Moby. If you mean B.W., then O.K. 2. Which Kitty because one of them is with Berry and the other is with Blacko. 3. Neither Kitties are a bore and they are both black belt drummers.
You forgot the singing duo of Ruff Ruff and Buns Buns.
Another thing, they are trillionaires and every single kid lives in the mansion that takes up Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Kansas. The great lakes are chlorinated pools and it’s one state called North Nate South.
I have changed certain plot elements as a result.
While I was Away at Camp
When I was a girl away at camp, my father would write letters to me. In his letters, my father would not talk about is work, or what he and my mother did while I was away, or about what he ate for breakfast. My father’s letters were… unusual.
He would write to me about my “twin sister,” and her misbehavior at home while I was away.
Letter 3: I Found the Socks
Hi, Eli,
I found the socks.
They were in the basement in a very suspicious formation. I need to go deal with the situation. I’ll let you know how it went.
Mom
Letter 2: There’s a Strange Sound Coming from the Basement
Dear Eli,
Remember I told you that I couldn’t find my socks? I looked in Dad’s drawer, and in Nate’s drawer, and they didn’t have any socks either. Then, I checked all of the laundry baskets, and there were no socks there, either. I looked in the washing machine and the dryer, and still no socks. Something very strange is going on. Where could all those socks be? Are you sure that you didn’t take them? Continue reading
Letter 1: I Can’t Seem to Find Any Socks
Dear Eli,
I can’t seem to find any socks in my drawer. I’m really not sure what happened to them. Did you sneak some of my socks to camp with you? Hmmmmm. Well, I’m going to go see if I can hunt down a few pairs. It seems awfully strange for them to just disappear. Maybe they are in Dad’s drawer? Or maybe Nate’s? I mean, they can’t just get up and walk out of my drawer by themselves. Everyone knows that!
Love,
Mom