Thank You, Thank You Very Much

First, read the intro to this series here.

50 Ways to Be a Woman: #4

Write thank you notes. It is one of the best ways to make a good impression and literally takes five seconds. It is a dying art that so desperately needs to be revived. If someone is nice enough to give you a gift or recommend you to a position, the least you can do is give them a proper thank you. People remember thank you notes.

I am actually not going to fudge around and change this one.  Write thank you notes.
This one is not something I am terribly good at.  I had a boss who wrote the world's best thank you notes, full of personal warmth and sincere gratitude.  Mine are awkward and stilted, but sincere. It's a skill my mother forced upon me as a child for a brief period of time, and which then lay all but forgotten, momentarily revived when I was told, "Your grandmother sent you money, but it won't hit your bank account until she gets a thank you note."

Enter wedding time.  Do you know what happens when you get engaged?  And then married?  And then have a baby?  People you barely know give you things you don't deserve.  People you know well give you more than you need.  People who love you turn out in material abundance, emotional abundance, spiritual abundance.  I have written so many thank you notes from the time I got engaged to now... Hopefully the habit will stick.  Because thank you notes let those who give know that you do not take them for granted---that you do not expect the world to provide for you---and that you know how to receive graciously.  The art of gratitude becomes manifest in the art of the thank you note.


Way of Womanhood #4: Write thank you notes; it helps you cultivate gratitude.

For next week, we have #5: "Get involved. Join societies and organizations that have a positive influence in your community. Create positive exposure for yourself."

Photo by Flickr user vistamommy [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons