It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty,
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?
Please, won't you be my neighbor?
{Won't You Be My Neighbor -- Mr. Fred Rogers}
When I was a baby, our family dog Judge died. My sister, then almost 7 was very upset and wrote Mr. Rogers a letter.
"Dear Mr. Rogers, today my dog died..."
Well. Mr. Rogers replied. He sent Avi a sweet letter back and included a book about when a pet dies. He and Avi corresponded for a bit after that.
Then, when Avi was in 3rd grade her class was writing to famous people. She decided to write to Mr. Rogers again. He responded! They picked up their correspondence once again.
A friend of my mom's, Hedda Sharapan was Mr. Roger's longtime producer. When Avi was in high school, Hedda reached out. They were publishing an anthology of letters that Mr. Rogers had received of the years - "Dear Mr. Rogers, Does It Ever Rain In Your Neighborhood?" They wanted to use Avi's letter, as the cover for the section on death - not just the words, the full letter...her actual letter scanned in. Of course, she said yes!
Turns out family friends moved to Pittsburgh a year or so later and when we went to visit them we were also able to spend some time at Mr. Rogers' studio. Hedda took us on a tour of the set, we met the fish, we saw the trolley tracks, we touched the puppets, and yes, we met Mr. Rogers. I will never forget that moment of stepping into his office and feeling like I was in front of a superhero, the man I watched on tv and had brought me and millions of children so much comfort for so long. We left that day with many memories and trinkets, including that little red trolley, one of my most prized possessions to this day.
Mr. Rogers has always had a special place in my heart. Both as a person and as an educator. Watching the documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor" this summer just brought all the memories of why he was such a special part of my childhood came flooding back. I then read the new biography about Mr. Rogers and it was just so amazing to get even more insight into his life and the history of what made him, him.
I cannot recommend the film or book enough. I sobbed through the film and had tears in my eyes multiple times while reading. The world needs to remember the lessons we learned from our neighbor Mr. Rogers, he taught us so much and it would do us all good to remember it!
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