Attitude of Gratitude

Flat Stanley chillin' on the couch with Spot & Bourbon

Dear Dawn,

In my kindergarten class, we have read a fictional book about a boy who got smashed by a bulletin board while he was asleep. His name is “Flat Stanley.” While flat, Stanley had many adventures. In one adventure, he was mailed to California in an envelope because he wanted to visit a friend and an airplane ticket or train ticket was too expensive!!! I am mailing Flat Stanley to you. PLEASE take him on an adventure in your city and then write me back at school to tell me all about his adventures. For example, since I live in Texas, I would take Flat Stanley to the Capitol building and send you a picture of me holding him in front of it if you had sent him to me!

This project is helping me in several ways. I am learning about addressing an envelope correctly, locating other cities, states and possibly countries on maps, and graphing where our class mails letters to (and hopefully receives letters from!). As we receive letters, we will display them near the map before we get to take them home. THANKS for helping me. I wish I could fold myself up and come visit you!!!

Sincerely, Anna
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It is interesting how an exercise as simple as this can cause a person to view life differently. Suddenly the everyday things in life seem more exciting when seen through the eyes of a child. And it is also strange what happens inside you when you are responsible for creating an adventure for a piece of colored cardboard, lovingly called Flat Stanley, that should appeal to a group of kindergarteners. As I am sure you can imagine, Flat Stanley can be put into all kinds of compromising positions, but which ones do you share with a child?

And while Flat Stanley has enjoyed all kinds of the adventures that will be sent to Ms. Mendoza’s kindergarten class, there have been others that I do not think I will choose to tell. The most noteworthy thus far, and the one that is actually keeping me awake writing about on my 7:30AM flight back to Amsterdam, is that there was almost an unhappy and disastrous end to the story of Flat Stanley.

It occurred while in Portugal last night at dinner. The weather yesterday in Lisbon was picture puuurfect all day, and I was working in a brand new modern office made almost entirely from glass (or so it seemed), and with an excellent view over the water, the new casino, and the Expo area of Lisbon. I had taken Flat Stanley with me to work and had grand ideas of taking pictures of him sprawled out enjoying the beautiful weather or viewing the city from the excellent vantage point on the top of the building. There were numerous options before me.

Unfortunately, I was with a reseller in Lisbon and had several meetings lined up for the one day I was here, and none of my ideas came to fruition. We attended meetings until 9pm (or 21:00 for you Europeans). One might think that working that late might entail having dinner or continuing discussions over a cocktail. No, that is just the typical time for Southern Europeans to have meetings! For this Texan who is used to eating between 5 – 6pm and who has been told that eating after 9 is a big no-no (after all you might get fat!), I was shocked and just a little bit hungry (read starving) by the time the meeting ended. I don’t know about you, but I get just a little bit grouchy if I don’t eat at pretty regular intervals, and the lunch I had eaten at 2pm (yes, *2pm*) was long since digested and my stomach was being vocal about wanting more sustenance, and soon.

After finally getting back to the hotel, changing clothes and gathering up my belongings to go find a restaurant for dinner (what was the time now? 9:30? 10PM?) , I thought about poor Flat Stanley. Stuck in my bag all day long, dragged from meeting to meeting, not seeing the light of day or enjoying any of the adventures that Lisbon had to offer; I was sad for him. The least I could do was bring him out to dinner and try to find at least one pose to put him in to prove to Anna that he had visited Portugal. And so he came, still neatly placed inside the envelope as to not damage, or even worse, lose him. And yet, somehow, with all my good intentions, that is exactly what I proceeded to do.

Upon arrival to the restaurant, I was greeted by the waiters immediatly filling the table full of food. Apparently it is very typical in Portugal to place food on the table and if you eat it you are charged for it, and if you don’t eat it they take it away without charging you. As you can imagine I was pretty excited by this because I was starving. They had laid out a plate overflowing with parma ham, a substantial bowl of tangy green and black olives, a plate of stinky local cheese, and a plate of VERY LARGE (even for Texas standards) unpeeled shrimp. I dug right in, even before reading the menu. It was all delicious and I was in heaven.

With my tummy finally filled with at least a little bit of food I was able to take stock of my surroundings and noticed quite a large lobster crawling around in the aquarium next to me. Not feeling too creative, but feeling guilty at not having taken any pictures of Flat Stanley, I thought I’d get a pic of him and the lobster. It was then that I noticed that Flat Stanely was gone!!!!!! I fell into an immediate state of panic. He wasn’t in my coat, on the floor or anywhere around the table. I asked the waiter, who didn’t speak a word of English and didn’t understand why this woman before him was freaking out, if maybe they had accidentally thrown it in the trash. Even though he didn’t understand what I’d lost it was very clear that I had lost SOMETHING and that I was very upset about it. Imagine me saying over and over, “Where’s Flat Stanley? Where’s Flat Stanley?” I sounded and looked like a madwoman.

My dinner was immediately ruined. I felt like I had let Anna and her entire kindergarten class down. I began imagining how I’d take pictures of interesting locations and then Photoshop Flat Stanley in later. I mean, how could I possibly lose a freakin’ CARDBOARD CUTOUT for Christ’s sake? If I cannot even be responsible for Flat Stanley, I would never make a suitable mother!!! My apprehension was clear because even my co-worker began to try to make me feel better by making up stories of Flat Stanley running off with a Portuguese ballerina.

You are probably wondering why this was such a big deal, but I think the long day of stressful meetings, my hectic travel schedule, lack of sleep and my anxiety about moving back to the USA caused this to hit me hard. That said, somehow I made it through dinner.

The shaking, guilt ridden waiter wistfully brought over the menu asking if we wanted dessert. NO! I didn’t want to dessert… I wanted him to bring me Flat Stanley! And suddenly I had a thought – MAYBE FLAT STANLEY GOT STUCK IN A MENU! The waiter and I seemed to have the same thought because he immediately went over and started checking every menu for the envelope. It wasn’t looking good, but no kidding, folded into the last menu was Flat Stanley!!! A feeling of pure joy flooded over me. All my guilt, anxiety, angst immediately went away. Danger averted! I think the entire restaurant breathed a sigh of relief; I know the waiter did. Okay… maybe I *will* be a good mother!

To end our near disaster, my coworker, Flat Stanley, and I enjoyed a nice big plate of profiteroles drowning in chocolate for dessert. And I finally got that picture of Flat Stanley with the lobster! After paying our cheap 40 Euro bill (included all those appetizers, a meal, the dessert and a bottle of wine!) I lovingly put Flat Stanley into the envelope and carried him back to the hotel. All was finally right and well in the world. And Flat Stanley will luckily be around for another adventure.

Flat Stanley swimming with the lobster

And some other Lisbon pictures:

I have no idea what this is, but it is interesting and cool architecture/art in Lisbon

A mall

Nothing particularly interesting about this except that it was 11:30PM at night and all the shops were still open!!!!