There are so many who have just joined our little community at this quiet life that I wanted to take a moment to say hello, and welcome. I have a new post in progress, but I never rush my words, and I didn't want to wait to connect with you all, and say a heartfelt thank you for subscribing.
Saying thank you is a fundamental part of our household culture. My amazing husband (I call him AH in my posts) is a man who says thank you A LOT. He goes out of his way to thank people, to let them know how they have helped him or blessed him. And through our years together, I have begun to do the same. I've found it a great blessing to say thank you, and to let someone know that they've made a contribution to me that means something.
I love to thank people. It's my jam. It's so easy to take a moment to express gratitude, and it's something we don't always take time for in a world that moves at lightning speed. I'll never forget a phone call of thanks that I made a few years ago to a little cafe that we had stopped at for lunch. We were tired, it had been a long day, and we were in a hurry. The cafe owner made all the food herself, paying great detail to each item that she made. It was so frustrating to see her move so slowly when we were in a hurry and needed to get going. But the food - which we had to eat on the go in the car - was amazing. It cheered us up so much, I felt like the owner had put a little bit of her own joy in it for us. It made such a difference in our day that I had to call her and thank her. I'll never forget the anxiety in her voice when I mentioned we'd been in earlier that day, but it changed to such happiness when I told her how much we enjoyed our meal. It took 2 minutes to make that call, and I'm so glad I did.
Six weeks ago, I sent an email to Suleika Jaouad, whose book Between Two Kingdoms I spoke about in my last post. Her book and her essays in the Isolation Journals have been both fuel and therapy on my journey the last 18 months, and I wanted to thank her for her work and to let her know that it has made a difference in my life.
I didn't expect anything to happen when I sent my email to Suleika's team. Honestly, it sat in my drafts folder for three months before I was brave enough to send it. "She'll never even see it." "She gets so many, why would my words mean anything?" "Why does what I have to say even matter?". But finally, I realized that even if Suleika didn't see my email, one of her team would, and someone would know how grateful I am for her work. It didn't occur to me that Suleika would read my email, never mind extend an invitation to adapt it as a writing prompt in an Isolation Journals post.
And so, just because I said thank you, we're all here together. My writing has been deeply personal, and will continue to be so as I navigate my life's ups and downs and all arounds. Thank you for being here with me along the way.
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