Sending My Gratitude

I am a pretty grateful person, generally. I really appreciate when people go out of their way to be kind, generous or thoughtful or even just do their job well. I genuinely like writing Thank You notes. It's something that I enjoy. I keep a bunch of cute notes in my desk and in my night stand. I buy manly Thank You notes and give them to my husband so that he can show his gratitude to others as well without looking like a sissy (can you still say that, now days?). I usually write the notes right away. I try to be personal. I seal them in their cute, little envelopes and write the recipient's name on the front in some fancy handwriting style. If I have my address book handy and the stamps available, I finish the process and send the notes out.

But usually, I write the notes at night when the thankful mood strikes. And then something goes wrong. Somewhere between looking up the addresses, addressing the envelopes, finding stamps, putting them in the mailbox and sending them off to the people that I appreciate, there is a break down in the process and so very often the notes never make it to the intended thoughtful person.

I regularly find Thank You notes in their envelopes all over the house. Right now there is a note on my nightstand. It's thanking my college roommate and very dear friend for hosting our last girls' night, making dinner and listening to me talk for hours. We got together in September. There are two notes on the buffet. One is for a neighbor/friend who brought me a warm and delicious loaf of her homemade bread--in March. The other is for another neighbor/friend who brought me ice cream after Molly was born--also in March. (It's not as if I don't see these women regularly. And they live pretty darn close.) Another note I just found on my desk is to my sister for the adorable outfit and blanket she gave Molly when she was born. There is one for my sister-in-law who gave me bags of beautiful hand-me-down clothes to fit Lilly and Molly.

Occasionally, when I find these notes, I actually send them. My mom called me one afternoon so confused. She had just gotten the note thanking her for coming out to visit and help with the kids "last weekend". She hadn't been out for months and assumed that I had sent a note intended for my in-laws. It really was for her. It just took me a long time to get it to her.

Obviously, I have a problem. My new goal, this Thanksgiving season, is to actually let the people that I appreciate KNOW how much I appreciate them by actually giving them the Thank You notes I have written for them.

P.S. If you never got a thank you note from me for a wedding gift (so many years ago), THAT was my husband's fault and a story for another time.