Card Up

     One of the most unusual things about moving is looking through all your holiday/season decorations in the middle of summer.  One thing was loud and clear this time, our Christmas stuff is a lot smaller than last year.  No, this had nothing to do with getting rid of extra stuff.  This was because this is the first move that we left a child behind.  She likes to remind us that instead of her moving out of our home to finish college, we moved out on her while she remained to finish college.  Hmm.  As Christmas was unpacked and then packed up and put back into storage for another couple of months (as in AFTER Thanksgiving),  it reminded me of a time when I was packing up Christmas many years ago.  I want to share with you one of my favorite things about my sister-in-law. 
     She meant it as a sweet gesture, good manners and a simple act of kindness.  Yet it had a huge impact then and even now.  What grand thing could this be?  She sent a little card saying thank you for the Christmas gifts we had exchanged a few days before.  Surprised?  So was I.  At first I wanted to run to Emily Post and ask if I was supposed to send Thank You cards to family, this despite the fact that Emily Post died almost a decade before I was born.  After my panic attack, I was overwhelmed by such appreciation and just plain overwhelmed.  I'm not sure why to this day it was such a big deal.  Maybe because I STINK at cards!
     Just a few steps down a rabbit trail please!  Let's get this straight.  If you are a member of my friends and family you know this about me.  I don't know HOW it happened.  My mom is WAY good at it but in this case the apple fell universes away from the tree.  I STINK AT CARDS!  Is there a twelve step program for that?  I'm completely comfortable with step one.  "Hello, my name is Lisa and I stink at sending cards."  When your birthday, anniversary, special event comes, I think about you, pray for you and celebrate it with you (even if thousands of miles away).  HOWEVER, if you are not my friend on Facebook, you will probably not get a Happy Birthday from me.  Most of the time I even purchase a card for you, but it never makes it beyond that.  Want proof?  This year we (I) gave my husband a Father's Day card purchased at least five years ago.  I came across it the day before when I was going through stuff for the move.  Maybe I just didn't get the "greeting card" gene in my DNA.  So, as your life events happen, remember I love you and care about you, but don't expect a card from me.  I'll just send my love instead.  Okay, enough of the rabbit trail.
     Many years later my sister-in-law did it to me again.  Just after my niece's wedding, I received another thank you card.  Shocked does not begin to describe how I felt.  I hadn't DONE anything.  Well, anything I don't do on a normal basis.  Helping a bunch of young ladies get into formals, along with hair, makeup, corsages, etc. in the space of a small ladies room is just normal for me.  Watching for the timing of an event and helping make sure the little things progressed is just an average Saturday.  Thanks to the IORG, I've been doing that for over twenty-two years.  So, no biggie to me.  Yet to her it was a HUGE deal.  As well as a huge lesson for all of us.  One that I think about more and more lately.
     It is the smallest things that we do that make the greatest impact in the lives of others.   A thank you card, pinning a corsage, sending a text that says I'm thinking of you, that word of encouragement, hug, whatever it is that you do, it has meaning.  It is occasionally life altering.  Too many times we don't take the minute to do the small things, like send a thank you card.  There is power in it so don't forget the power of the small things we do for others.  So as we seek to live a simpler life, we are striving to be better at encouraging, noticing and loving those around us more. Who knew the power of a thank you?