Letter #23 from Maryland

Letters are coming in daily now and it's so exciting!Here is what the lovely Cyndel from Maryland shared with us.She lives in a suburb of DC,but came from a small town in Indiana with less than 500 people....I'm sure that must have been a big change to get used to.She wasn't exposed to much diversity but now gets to enjoy living around people from all over the world.I can definitely relate to you as we have moved from the south,to the north & back down south again.When we lived up north,we lived in a very diverse area, but now we don't. :( I actually just read in our paper that our county is the whitest county in the state at 90%. (We were told before moving here that it is very diverse,but I haven't seen much diversity myself.) It's a big change from here to Arlington,VA which is 3.5 hours from us.I feel that living in a diverse area is very important to our children.I see many kids here that are racist because they haven't grown up with kids of different races like they have where we came from,so it makes a big difference.I think people are always afraid of what they don't know,so they need to expose themselves to different things so that they can learn and realize that there is no need to fear others different than themselves.

Cyndel met her boyfriend is college and told me that his mother is from Swaziland,which sounds so exotic.She enjoys her food (you better...wink,wink!) :) and her stories.It's so wonderful to know somebody from another country that can share such interesting things with you that you might never know about otherwise.

Cyndel is a wonderful model citizen.She has spent a year as an AmeriCorps Vista,worked full time as a program assistant in an Adult Education and ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) and has done many volunteering jobs.She also mentions that the illiteracy rate in adults was quite high and didn't even know that until she started volunteering.Many times we have "tunnel syndrome" and think that everybody is like us,whe in reality there are many people needing our help.I do think we all should try to do some form of volunteering...even if it's just helping your elderly neighbors.We should be examples for our children.If we all chipped in,the world would be a much better place to live in.

If you love horses and the beach,Cyndel says that we should visit Assateague Island off the Eastern shore of Maryland.It's home to many wild horses.I think it would be amazing to see wild horses.She also loves to visit the museums in DC.We went to a couple of museums last summer and it was truly amazing.We stayed a few days,but that's not enough time to enjoy all of DC,so we have been back a few times.Even if you went only to walk and admire the buildings,it's worth the time because Washington,DC is absolutely beautiful!Cyndel loves living in her town because she doesn't need a car at all.She is in walking distance to the stores and a lovely park...what more do you need,right?I hope she is close to a library,too...we love libraries. :)

She recommended two books for us to read. ( I LOVE book recommendations for both myself and my children,so send them in)She has recommended The Secret Life of Bees (we saw the movie) & Three Cups of Tea (we bought the book,but haven't read it yet).Thanks for sharing!

Below is Cyndel's lovely letter along with a cute pic of her and her boyfriend,her fave place to eat Chili and 2 postcards...one from Indiana and one from DC (we actually visted the World War II Memorial but didn't get a postcard,so thanks so much...we thought it was such a beautiful memorial....if you haven't seen it,you must go!Thanks again Cyndel for the letter,pictures & postcards!Maybe we could meet when we go to DC next time. :)