One day in 2003, when I was in 6th grade, my mom put a letter in my lunchbox with some advice on it. “Don’t be quick to judge the girls at school — it’s up to you to look for something good in each one.”
My mom, Stephanie Skylar, was the Executive VP and Director of Marketing for Chief Super Market Inc., a local grocery chain in Lima, Ohio. She worked long and difficult hours and was looking for a way to stay connected to me. As an 11-year-old learning how to navigate the scary waters of female friendships, this written encouragement instantly helped give me confidence.
After that first letter, we agreed upon the rules of our project. My mom would write a letter each night (sometimes pre-writing a few if she was going to be out-of-town) and I would keep the notes safely inside a Skechers’ shoebox. Throughout the year, I collected over 100 ‘lunchbox letters,’ filled with my mom’s wisdom that would guide me through my adolescence and into my adulthood.
More than a decade later, when I was completing my masters project at Ohio University, I created a website showcasing all of the letters in chronological order and paired it with my commentary. These are some of my favorites:
Here’s a picture of my mom and me in 2003 on the left, and again in 2016 on the right.
This is the shoebox I kept the letters in. We decorated it with a “seal of approval” and our signatures, proving our dedication to the project.
“Don’t be quick to judge the girls at school — it’s up to you to look for something good in each one.”
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