MAKING A CASE FOR handwritten NOTES

Essay by: Amy Cross

I can clearly remember the chore lists from my youth. Put clothes away, wipe down the sink, clean the rabbit’s cage, write thank you notes I’d much rather play with my friends than do any of those things, but I knew in order to do so, I’d have to check the boxes. With dread and mild resentment, I dutifully carried out each chore, saving the thank you notes for last. What at first felt like work, slowly started to feel like fun A budding writer even then, I found I enjoyed the opportunity to tell the story of how a gift was being used or what time spent with me meant. I started to seek out the chance to show gratitude on my own, and found it no longer ranked on my chore list (replaced, unfortunately, by scrubbing the toilets). Making sure the efforts of others were seen and appreciated unlocked something warm and fuzzy in me I liked the way writing these notes made me feel, too.

As I got older, the practice became more of a personal ritual, and grew beyond just thank yous selecting a card that felt true to the recipient, setting aside time to reflect on the right message, and capturing that emotion to send by snail mail to their home. Shopping for just the right card, comparing paper options and copy choices, finding a gem of a graphic It was all a magical hunt I wanted to be sure that genuine gratitude and love shone through not just in what I wrote, but in my choice of vessel, too.

These days some of the luxury has slipped away from my note writing practice. With a toddler in tow, the heavy-stock, letterpress beauties of yore are gone, replaced instead with a generic box of blank cards picked up on a Target run. I find I have to be more intentional about making time to write, but the emotion is all the same. In fact, it’s perhaps amplified now that it’s stripped down I know I’ll teach my son the importance of gratitude, and hope he’ll be as fond of notes and letters as I’ve grown to be. It’s a generational thread, this practice of writing down our appreciation It connects us to a moment in time, a person who touched our lives that instance.

Just as clearly as I can recall that chore list, I remember going through my grandmother’s keepsakes when she passed Boxed up with other cherished items were so many of the thank you notes and justbecause cards I’d sent her. While I didn’t seed validation, it meant the world to know my words and appreciation meant so much to her I keep all of the cards I’ve received as well, the thank yous and the thinking of yous and everything in between. Flipping back through them like photographs, I’m transported to happy moments and hard times, knowing I had support through it all The words of friends and family, penned in their looping cursive or dashed off in hurried-looking script, are some of the greatest treasures of my life.