“April O’Neil was not covering the event, as she was busy reporting in New York.” (This line was cut from my original write-up, but that’s news for ya)
But for real, 8 year old me is bursting with joy. I was the biggest TMNT fan growing up. I still love them. Not only did I never imagine that I would get into reporting (sort of like April O’Neil), but never in my craziest, most weirdly perfect dreams did I believe I’d get to REPORT on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
It’s too perfect!
Fun history here. When I was a kid, about 7 or 8 I would write letters to the TMNT and drop them in the sewers of my apartment complex believing that they’d somehow reach them. A lot of these went to my favorite, and crush– yes I often had crushes on cartoon characters–Michelangelo.
One day I came inside from playing to find a letter from the turtles sitting on top of the mailboxes in our apartment building hallway. It was AMAZING, and just made me the happiest kid alive.
I later found out that my sister found out about my letters and thought I should hear back from the heroes in a half-shell. She was so sweet, she wanted to make me happy and channeled her inner turtle to write me a response and sign it from Michelangelo and his brothers.
Sure, I know they’re not really real now, but it’s still fun to play pretend sometimes.
I even got my husband to agree to allow Master Splinter over for a visit, if he ever drops by, even though my husband HATES rodents (despite my love for ALL animals).
Jessica Marie Baumgartner 