Thank you note my son wrote to me fifteen years ago. “Thanks for making me odd.” No problem, Kid.
In November last year in honor of Thanksgiving Day, I decided to say thanks, 200 times; not just say it but to write it because quite frankly I’m a believer in the old fashioned Thank You Note.
At first it was easy: I wrote my husband, but who wouldn’t be grateful for a man who can cook like Emeril, wears a fireman outfit when he goes to work, and buys me shoes and tattoos for my birthdays.
Then I wrote my kids and that too was easy because – well – they’re perfect.
Just kidding.
I wrote my husband’s mother and thanked her for not having an opinion about the way I raise my kids. Yup, thanking people for what they’re NOT doing. I haven’t heard from her since and am guessing she’s either confused or offended because only I could thank someone and potentially offend them.
I thanked my mother, my sister in law, my friends and acquaintances and then I started in with strangers.
I thanked the boys at the UPS shop for being so efficient and perhaps I was really thanking them for being kind enough to flirt with an old lady (at this point the boys at UPS are saying “Customer service, lady, customer service.”).
I thanked the guy at J.C. Penney for bringing some style to the department store but then he got fired for the style he brought so maybe he wasn’t grateful for my thanks, my opinion or my style.
I thanked the lady who took my blood for being good with a needle; and at this point she’s wondering why she got a Panera gift card for good use of a needle from that weird white lady.
I thanked the mailman because, well, it’s fun to write the mailman a letter and thank them for their service and watch them deliver the letter to themselves.
I wanted to add “Stop walking on our baby grass seeds”, but in the spirit of being grateful I decided not to.
It didn’t change my life but it did make me wonder when it got so hard to be grateful. At what point did it become more natural to be grumpy and irritated with the people around you then to wake up excited and ready for good everywhere you go? I won’t lie, if I was writing; “You irritate the crap out of me cards” I would have been done by December …of the same year.
But alas, here it is one-year later and 199 cards after and I’ve got one last person to thank.
Thank you, dear reader, for showing interest in my family and my opinions on this crazy world we live in, even when they are rude, offensive or just wrong.
Thank you for sticking with me through my endless self-promoting and for commenting and for “liking” me on Facebook.
Thank you for reading when I write something that’s not worth reading and still opening up the next post – and for all of you who don’t read me that’s okay………
I’m out of thank you cards anyway.
About Rebecca Suder