Claire McElvaney, M.S.
I have been a writer all of my life. When I was younger, I used to force my family to sit and listen to my stories and poems.
As I grew older, I kept writing, but marriage, three kids, and several pets later have lead me to combine my love of writing with my passion for teaching Psychology at a local community college. My bachelor’s in Psychology is from Meredith College (Go Odds!) and my master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling & Psychology is from UNC-Chapel Hill (Go Heels!)
My days are a mix of teaching, writing, and reading, all while entertaining two very attention-seeking dogs and two very demanding cats. What a wonderful way to live!
A few years ago, my children started receiving strange letters hidden inside their lunch boxes.
LuLu, one of our three cats, began writing to Ethan, age 9. One day, much to Ethan’s surprise, he opened his lunch box at school only to find a folded letter from LuLu resting on top of his peanut butter and ham sandwich. He had received two more letters when his sister, Olivia, age 11, also began to receive letters.
Olivia’s letters weren’t written by LuLu. Instead, they were written by Jamie, one of our two dogs.
It seems that Jamie had realized that LuLu was telling tales to Ethan about Jamie’s activities. Jamie thought that the only way to survive the cat’s smear campaign was to enlist the help of a pre-teen animal enthusiast. Since Olivia had mentioned wanting to become a veterinarian when she grows up, Jamie thought she might be willing to listen to a dog’s side of the story.
The letters are a war of words between the two animals. LuLu and her fellow cats, sister Trixie and brother Denny, hate the dogs. LuLu calls them “the Pests”.
Jamie, a kindly English Springer Spaniel, and Babbie, a Jack Russell Terrier, don’t actually hate the cats. They just hate being clawed and hissed at, a very understandable attitude.
Although I know it’s hard to believe that animals can type, we have the letters. What more proof do you need? This is a small collection of LuLu and Jamie’s letters.
Since LuLu started the letter campaign, we chose to call this blog The LuLu Letters. Jamie won’t mind if her name isn’t used, so long as we rub her belly while reading what is written.
JUST REMEMBER: YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOUR PETS GET UP TO WHEN YOU AREN’T LOOKING!
Sincerely yours,
Claire McElvaney
The LuLu Letters 