Provident Mom

Imagine to yourself that it’s time to go to the mailbox. What do you feel? If you’re like me, you hope there are no bills in the mailbox. You open it and pull out all the envelopes and junk mail. There’s an ad for vinyl siding, a statement from your health insurance, a menu for a Chinese restaurant that delivers in your area, a credit card offer, and WHAT’S THIS? There’s something in a card-sized envelope that’s hand addressed to you. You can’t help smiling, and you look at the return address. Who do you know on Hudson Ave.? Who is it? Who? You tuck the rest of the mail under your arm and open it right there on the sidewalk because this just doesn’t happen every day.

It’s a note from a friend. She says she was just thinking of you and feeling grateful for your friendship and all the kind things you’ve done for her over the years. This is special. This is not going to be filed in the trash with the Chinese menu and the vinyl siding ad. You may even glue this in your journal.

This may or may not have happened to you. Regardless, consider making it happen for someone else. You can go to a craft store like Michael’s and pick up a dozen stylish notecards with envelopes for $1. You probably already have stamps handy for paying bills. It will take you five minutes right now to write a note to someone who could use a little love in the mailbox. An email is just not the same. Getting something in the mail is tangible. It’s love you can hold in your hand.

Who could use a note? Everyone. Here’s a little brainstorming to get you started: your children’s teachers, the mail carrier, your neighbors, the mayor, your doctor, the manager of the grocery store, people you work with, people you go to church with, high school friends, your daughter’s room mother, college roommates, your grandmother, your cousins and aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, the kid who delivers the newspaper, the Girl Scouts who delivered your cookies with a shiny smile, you get the idea. I guarantee that it will make their day.

You can also use this technique to reinforce good behavior. I sent a thank you note to a Cub Scout in my den who put up the chairs without being asked. Do you think he ever put up the chairs again? Willingly and cheerfully, every time.