Dear Abigail:

We haven't met yet, but I'm your great-aunt. You made your arrival into this world about the same time Friday evening, Aug. 22, that I was arriving in Denver.

I teach at a place called Fort Hays State University, which I think is a pretty wonderful school, and I brought my political reporting class to Denver to cover the Democratic National Convention for The Hays Daily News. That's our local newspaper here in Hays, Kansas.

My students are providing news stories, blogs, photographs, podcasts and videocasts this week for the paper's special convention Web site at HDNews.net/DNC08/. I know all those words don't mean a thing to you now, but someday they will.

They will be old hat. Newer, more advanced forms of communication will have come along, and you will look back on this letter I am writing you, and think how funny it was that Aunt Linn Ann lived back in the dark ages when people communicated on this old-fashioned thing called the "Internet."

That's OK. Every generation thinks the previous ones lived in the "dark ages."

My students and I were pretty excited to get to Denver, but when I got the call from your grandfather that you had arrived two weeks early, I instantly wanted to be there with you. I realize you and I are two generations apart, and we live several hundred miles away from each other, but I am going to do my very best to be a part of your life.

That's how important you and your 2-year-old sister, Madelyn, and all your little first cousins are to me. Thanks to the Internet, even though I am hundreds of miles away, I was able to see your first picture that your daddy sent me.

There you were, 5 pounds, 7 ounces, 17Ôªø3âÑ4 inches long, asleep in a little bassinet in the neo-natal intensive care unit of the hospital. Your grandfather explained to me that you were OK, but because of your birth weight and your early arrival, you would probably spend a few days there.

That's OK; get all the sleep you can. I have a feeling once you get home, your 2-year-old sister will want to cuddle you and play with you constantly. She's that way.

Be very tolerant of Madelyn. Big sisters can come in very handy when you start to school, and you don't know anybody, and you need someone to hold your hand. From now on, it will be the Huntington sisters against the world. Even though she will probably hate it when you borrow her clothes, and the two of you will fuss and argue, when push comes to shove, each of you will do anything for the other. That's just the way families work.

Speaking of school, I know that's a long way off. But one of these days, you may encounter a bully. Bullies can be scary, especially if you are a small, petite little girl. But just remember, there are a lot of people who love you, Abigail. If you swallow your pride and ask for help, life goes much more smoothly. I have learned that through personal experience.

I wish I could tell you how wonderful the world is, Abigail, and how many glorious adventures you will have. Just look at me. I am attending my first national political convention and have learned new things everyday I've been here. The truth is, you will experience things in your lifetime, Abigail, that I can't even begin to imagine.

It's important to be a lifelong learner, Abigail. I know teachers are supposed to say that, but I really do believe it. The truly wise people in this world are those who take responsibility for their own learning -- who don't wait for the teacher to force feed them. So don't ever be afraid to question the status quo and work to change things that you feel need changing.

I wish you could have known your Uncle Don. He was your grandfather Bill's brother. He lives in heaven now, the place that you just came from. He taught me so much in the 28 years we had together. One of his favorite quotes was one attributed to Robert F. Kennedy: "Some men see things the way they are and ask, 'Why?' I dream of things that never were and ask, 'Why not?' "

That was your Uncle Don, Abigail. He always had this enormous desire to help people. He was a reading teacher. There was nothing he liked better than teaching little kids and adults how to read. If he were still here, he would hold Madelyn on one knee and you on the other, and he would read to you for hours. He would have been crazy about both of you. I know it!

Then he would have set up his model trains for you, like he did for your Uncle Brent when he was little, and he would get down on the floor with you and teach you how to run the trains. After your Uncle Don died, I gave your daddy one of Don's trains for a new generation of Huntingtons to play with. So keep after your dad until he lets you play with it. Remember, even little girls can be engineers.

Thankfully, in this day and age, Abigail, little girls can be anything they want to be. It wasn't always that way. For a long time, certain people weren't allowed to do certain things -- like vote, or hold office, or do certain jobs -- just because of their gender or the color of their skin.

In my lifetime, Abigail, that has changed. That's why I wanted to bring my students to this particular convention. For the first time in U.S. history, an African-American is the presidential nominee for one of the major political parties. Isn't that cool?

Maybe by the time you are old enough to read this, Abigail, it won't be cool any longer. Maybe your generation will wonder why having a person of color as a major presidential candidate was such a big deal. Maybe by then it will be a common thing.

I sure hope so.

In my lifetime, the United States has come a long way in terms of racial and gender equality. Oh, we still have a ways to go. But we're getting there.

Abigail, some people will tell you this is a terrible time to be born. There are wars going on in many parts of the globe, little children are starving to death in a place called Darfur -- some people don't even want to listen to the news anymore because they say everything they hear is bad news.

Don't you believe it, Abigail! Yes, the world has its problems. But a very wise man named Jesus once said there would always be "wars and rumors of war." He didn't have any illusions about that. But he still thought the world was worth saving.

In fact, he made everyone a special offer. He said if we would ask him to help us and follow his directions, imperfect though we are, he would help us make the world a better place. And he has the power to do that, Abigail. (He has this special "in" connection with God.)

There are people all over the world who have taken him up on his offer, and who are changing their little corner of the world.

They are helping build homes for the homeless, they are bringing disaster relief to flood and storm victims, they are raising money to find cures for horrible diseases, and some are even trying to stop wars. There are good, decent people everywhere, Abigail. Despite all the bad things going on in our world, it is still a beautiful place to be.

That's why we rejoice every time a new little baby is born, Abigail. That's why perfectly intelligent, rational adults will get misty eyed and start cooing and talking baby talk every time they are around you. Please be patient when adults do this; they mean well.

There's an old saying: "Every time a baby is born, it is God's way of affirming that the world should go on." I believe that's true. Welcome to our world, Abigail. I can't wait to meet you!

Love,

Aunt Linn Ann

Linn Ann Huntington is a longtime

journalism educator who

lives and works in Hays.