Day 16: Stillness - A Time To Give Thanks

From time to time, when there is a moment of stillness, I realize that it is a great time to give thanks. Where to start? It seems like in the business of living, the polite necessities of my youth are tossed aside. Where does one find the time to write a simple thank you. Funny how modern technology is managing to make us into robots permanently attached to a high tech piece of equipment that is making our lives easier. But is it? The US postal service is worried about extinction because every day people just do not pick up a piece of paper and write a letter to friends and family members. For that there is email, facebook, and texting. Why reach out and touch somebody with your voice? Why waste a trip to the post office to mail a heart felt letter?

With a to do list that rivals the best of them, I finally sat down to write thank you notes from my son to his preschool friends for their birthday gifts. As I sat at the table, know what ran through my mind? "Emily Post would be happy, I am doing this within a month." I was not relieved that I had finally found the time to say thank you for such generous gifts. I was not happy that I was personally writing each card with a personal note. I was just happy that Emily Post's rules for etiquette were being followed.

I am not sure what that says about me. As the last card in the stack loomed closer to the light of day though, I started to think about how we just don't say thank you enough in this crazy life. What a better world we could have if we just look the cashier in the eye and really say thank you? What about that friend that is struggling behind closed doors? Perhaps your thank you would make all the difference. What about the guy (or gal) that pumps your gas. Do you really say thank you? What about the waitress that brings your refill without being asked? What about your family? How many times do you take the time to say thank you for all that they do without even being asked.

So, here is my second to do generated by this project: write a letter to a long lost friend and mail it!

Here is a little song by Dido to get you in the mood to say thank you.