And you're right.
But this is one specific problem I am confessing to this morning. It has to do with Thank You notes. My problem does not regard the actual writing of thank you notes. I like to do that. And I generally do that as soon as possible after receiving a gift, spending time at some one's house, etc. I keep boxes of little thank you notes from the Michael's dollar bin on hand for just that reason. So, as the need arises, I write out my thank you notes, stick them in an envelope and then...this is where the breakdown begins.
I write the return address up in the left hand corner. I write the name of the recipient on the envelope (usually) and then I:
a.) get distracted by breaking up a bloody fight between two kids
b.) get distracted by a dirty diaper that has turned into an emergency
c.) can't find the address of the recipient in my address file that has been dumped out by my kids a few hundred times, so I leave the card on the counter planning to email or call to get the address as soon as I can. Said card gets covered by the mail five minutes later. It is moved to the "look at later" pile.
d.) I somehow manage to address the card and then realize I have no stamps. It sits on counter and gets buried in the same scenario as letter "c".
e.) I address the envelope, I put a stamp on it...I am too lazy to walk to the mailbox at that exact moment. Again, it gets buried and lost.
After scenarios a-e happen, the card often stays buried on the counter for days, weeks, months and in a couple cases (hiding deep shame) years. I find them when I pack up to move. When I clean the kitchen before having company. When my kids knock over the precarious pile. When I am searching for a recipe before Thanksgiving. And then I sometimes write a quick "oops, sorry this is so late" on the back and drop it in the mail. Sometimes I am too embarrassed to do that and I let it sit a couple more days before I get up the courage to mail it late.
If you have ever gotten me a gift, stayed at my house or helped me out in some way and are wondering where your thank you note is...please shoot me an email. Chances are I have it buried in a pile of important stuff. If I can find it, I'll send it to you. If I can't, I'll write you a new one, lose it for a while and get it to you by next year....or the next.
Above they are showing how they can look like Daddy. And in the two below, well, I think you can guess who that looks more like : )
4 comments:
Hey, you have two steps in the 12-step program licked! You admitted you had a problem and you acknowlege a higher power. And you're welcome, just in case I've ever done anything nice to you...
Ahahaha. I had a kid with a birthday right before we moved. I have her list of thank you's all ready to be written. But, tell me this. When you have a kiddo with a school schedule that includes a ton of handwriting stuff, and you want them to finish in a timely manner at the end of the year, and you're already a bit late on that due to moving, when are you going to make that poor child do more handwriting stuff on her thank yous?
Also, one time someone got me a present. I wrote a thank you. It fell behind the bakers rack. 18 mos later we moved and I found it. Mortified. I put it in a box to send when we moved. I haven't seen it since. Ooops. I feel your pain.
I have the same problem. When I packed up for college those many years ago, I found a stack of letters in various stages of completeness that I'd never mailed to my cross-country friend over YEARS of letter-writing. I put them all in a manila envelope and mailed them off! That's the one fun-ending story I have about not mailing things...the others just end in shame;).
Unfortunately, you don't owe me any thank you notes,...I haven't done a thing for you, sigh.... The kids pictures are great. They personalities shine through! Love those kids so much...and their Dad and Mom!
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