I grew up in a family where we were raised to hand-write “Thank you” notes whenever we received a gift. In fact, each year one of our Christmas presents would be a package of those notes. My mother would nag until we’d finished writing them, so we usually did it pretty quickly.
The older I am, the more I’m grateful for learning that lesson early in life. I still hand-write the notes, but I don’t reserve them for just Holiday and Birthday gifts. If someone does something that in any way touches my heart, I will either send a snail mail note or do something unexpected (flower, box of candy, gift card, little funny stuffed animal…etc.) making sure they know how much it meant to me.
There are so many of us walking this world wearing invisible shields over our hearts and really heavy boots. We truly do not know what others are going through at any given time. I share a lot about my life, but there are definitely things I keep to myself. People who know me would gasp and wonder what details I’m not sharing, because I tend to be an open book. Trust me. There are things and I’m not alone. Life is darned hard.
The point being, we should be expressing our gratitude and lifting on another on a continual basis. This world needs more light.
