The Perfect Thank You Note

For John Kralik 2007 was a tough year as his marriage and business were both failing, so as a New Year’s resolution he decided to be thankful for the good things and people in his life. He spent the year writing a thank you note each day to family, friends, employees, even the manager of his apartment. The notes make up a book I read recently, A Simple Act of Gratitude: How Learning to Say Thank You Changed My Life. “Things we write in cyberspace are so easily deleted and forgotten ... buried by the next 30 e-mails we receive," Kralik says. "In this day and age, a handwritten note is something that people really feel is special."

My Mother is the Queen of the thank you's, if we got a gift the note had to be written before you spent it or played with it! So my children do not bother to argue about writing their thank you notes or wearing sunscreen. Ok, the later was not around when I was kid! I enjoy writing a thank you for gifts and acts of kindness but one a day for a whole year did seem to be a huge undertaking. As I thought over this project for my own New Year’s resolution, it seemed I did have much to be thankful as I was able to find at least 30 things in November (one for each day)! What the heck, I started January 1st and am keeping a log of each card, the recipient and reason I am thankful. Should be fun to look back over in the years to come… I guess I will need to order some more stationary, wish me luck!

Thank you!