Thoughtful Thursdays is an idea that came to me in May 2011 while doing a “Cherish Your Whole Self” series with Susan Iida Pederson.
My personal vision of “Thoughtful Thursdays” is to take this day to connect with friends and family via real mail. In my heart there is nothing more special than going to the mail box and receiving a piece of REAL mail. I am always touched that someone took the time to write a short note, send REAL photos and well, just be thoughtful. Sadly while I had good intentions I was not the best at this until the birth of Thoughtful Thursdays. Now I am having great fun sending a short note or card to various people in my life each Thursday. It takes very little time and from what I am hearing is being received with great joy. I don’t hear back from everyone and I don’t expect to. I made a commitment to send 2 notes each Thursday with the intention they will be well received. If I hear back…then that is the cherry on my sundae! I can’t wait to see what happens after a year of sending real mail!
Come join me on this venture. Some have asked me about doing this via e-mail and texts. I am going to stick with it being real mail…something tangible to hang onto, something that is personal. If you have a minute read on and you’ll understand why this is so heart centered for me.
My story about Thoughtful Thursdays
Since I began this I started to wonder why real mail is so important to me. Some of my first memories are seeing my Mom sitting at the kitchen table writing letters. It is a warm sweet memory and my Mom who is 84 years young still writes letters and I am the lucky recipient of some of those.
Fast forward to my college years (remember this was before e-mail, cell phones etc) and mail was the highlight of most days. Cards from friends and family. It was always fun to go to the P.O as we called it, to see something in our box.
Then I met Paul and we wrote letters almost daily. He was at the Naval Academy so we only saw each other on various weekends. Mail became an integral part of our budding relationship. After we married, we moved far from home and he was often away for long periods of time (like 6 or 7 months), except for an occasional barely audible phone call, letters again became our way of staying connected.
So its no wonder I love REAL mail. I still have those letters. Its part of our history. I cherish them just like I cherish notes from my grandparents who are no longer with us. It truly is a tangible connection to my past. It makes me smile when I see my grandmother’s distinctive handwriting on an envelope or note and I remember her laugh, her cooking and how she loved me.
So that’s my REAL mail story. Come join me…make someone smile at their mailbox…it will do your heart good!