I was sorting through a card box a few weeks back, separating the “Get well soons” from the “Happy birthdays.” All of these cards were marked by special occasions. A graduation, a marriage, a holiday…
But then I got to another category… the “thinking of you” cards.
I like the idea of a thinking of you card. It comes without expectation or anticipation. It’s just there. It’s just because.
I love writing letters for holidays. I love decorating the house on birthdays. I love the sentimentality of New Years. But do I really need a reason to write a letter, hang streamers, or reflect on my life?
Anyone who knows me knows that I am in a relationship with organization. My planner is my life blood. But rather than crossing off tasks in heavy marker after they’ve been completed or scribbling over the day in grey pencil, I instead highlight it.
The neon yellow represents completion, but it’s also a form of looking back to see all that’s been accomplished.
About a month ago, I was feeling overwhelmed at what seemed like the impossibility of the tasks before me. I was looking ahead at the black ink with the arrows and time readjustments and detailed notes. It seemed endless. Then I flipped back a few weeks. The week before had been like that too…and the week before that…and the week before that.
In fact, a lot of my weeks looked like chaotic messes. But I had survived each and every one of them. The highlighting doesn’t allow me to live in the past, it just affords me the opportunity to grow from it.
So I was looking at my weeks in a day planner that looks like one of a madman when I again thought of those cards. Even in those weeks of craziness, I had thought fondly of a friend or family member who meant a lot for me. Even on those days when I found myself working through meals and losing track of daylight, I still was thinking of people.
What if I had taken 5 minutes to write them a note saying so?
What if you had been the recipient of a thinking of you note for no other reason than the fact that someone had thought about you that day. Not a text. Not a Facebook message. Not a Tweet. A letter. A hand written, sloppily addressed, stamp in the corner, letter.
Just because.
I think that’d be pretty wonderful.
Your challenge this week is to fill out some thinking of you cards with the only explanation being “just because.”
I think we could all use a collective high-five and card for getting through this crazy, messy, wonderful thing called life.
Love always,
Liz
