I'm glad you are here to celebrate!
Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link.
Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.
*******
"I have a goal to write 500 handwritten notes each year," the superintendent told me. I smiled, because, really, how else should one respond to a gloriously gaudy goal like this? He continued, "I usually meet it, too."
I smiled bigger. I've been thinking about sending more handwritten notes. I have this terrible habit of writing notes and never sending them. The shaming evidence is currently in my car. I have a stack of 7 notes that have ridden miles over the course of many days just waiting to be dropped in the mail. A baby gift sits on the backseat with a handwritten note on top. I only need to take it to the post office and send it across the globe to Finland. Hopefully I'll do it before the sweet baby girl is too big to wear the outfits.
"Over the years of writing notes," he said, "I've realized only good comes from it. Good for the receiver and good for me. Don't be afraid of caring too much."
I'd been thinking about it for a few days (the notes still hitchhiking in my car) when I received a piece of airmail. It traveled down the staircase and landed on my computer keyboard. I paused writing and looked up. Blond hair stuck through the banister, telling on Sam.
I opened the envelope.
Mom,I am happy with tennis. It is fun and I am learning a lot.
I love you!
YouTube is fun! Thank you for letting me post videos!
LOVE,SamI looked up the stairwell and a little boy smiled and waved. "Thanks for the card," I said.
"Thanks for being you," he said and blew me a kiss. "Night!"
I looked at the card again and knew it was time to stop thinking about sending handwritten notes and start doing. The card Sam sent me is incredibly ordinary. It took minutes for him to write. It warmed my heart -- for days.
I ordered 100 notecards with the intent to send them all before Thanksgiving. The next step is a stop at the post office to ditch the hitchhiking letters in my car.
And then I need to let go of the lie that it's over-the-top to send notes. This is simply ridiculous. Gratitude isn't something that can be too much.
I celebrate a gaudy goal and the ability to make it happen. Maybe you'll join me and send a few handwritten notes of your own. After all, only good will come -- good for the receiver and good for the writer.
Ruth, as always, your posts have a message. This one is touching. What can be better than a Dear Mom letter from a child? So it's a big YES for handwritten notes.
ReplyDelete"Don't be afraid of caring too much." These words by your superintendent are sticking with me today. Your little Sam is such a delight!
ReplyDeleteWith all the ways we can communicate these days, handwritten notes are becoming more and more precious. Love that your Sam sent such a sweet one to you. I got a few for my birthday yesterday, and I celebrate them today. Thanks for hosting weekly. This discipline is good for me.
ReplyDeleteOh, Ruth, that sweet Sam! And what a wise superintendent! Won't the world be a better place if we all follow the urge to send those handwritten notes? I so relate to those notes that were riding around in your car... I sometimes "extend" the birthday celebrations of faraway friends with belated greetings...
ReplyDeleteI love Sam's note. How thoughtful he is! Sending 'slow-mail' notes is a best thing, I think. I do try to send some, not as many as perhaps I could. Thanks for the nudge!
ReplyDeleteHope you made it to the post office to ditch the hitchhiking letters. I'm headed to the thrift store to ditch some giveaways from this morning's garage clean-up. And Sam's airmail note - precious. I'm hanging onto these words: "Over the years of writing notes," he said, "I've realized only good comes from it."
ReplyDeleteThere was a woman in my church when I was a teenager who sent people notes randomly and she was such a blessing. You might get a note after you did something in the service like singing a solo or even something as simple as helping someone else. I remember getting a note from her and thinking that it was a special kind of hospitality to reach out like that. I try to keep notecards on hand to send out. I don't send as many as I'd like, but I try to do a few a month. I think of it like smiling at people. It's not super hard to do, but it can really make someone's day. I wish you well in meeting your goal. It will bless both the giver and the receiver. Now I need to order some more cards. :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete