Thank You Notes

A Good Morning to You!

I hold the opinion that once a woman is ninety years of age she has received enough slipper socks, rose-scented milky white lotion, and chocolate-covered cherries to last a lifetime. She wears her "I Love Grandma" t-shirts under a chenille robe and has stacks of acid-free photo books next to her favorite chair. Her bookcases and decorative wall shelves are lined with figurines of cats and puppies and crosses and hand bells or collector spoons. She is full of pride when she speaks about her family and hesitates for a minute as she tries to recall the great grand children's ages. I want to be her.

The woman above has seen the seasons change. She was that new bride, the new mother, the keeper at home. Next, she was the grandma that offered to sit with the children so that mom and dad could have a deserved night out. When those children had grown and started families, she was the senior at the wedding, and then the great grandma that everyone talked louder around. She was lovely before, but is beautiful now because she has a cast of glory surrounding her. Hers is not a new journey beginning after the reception, but a slow walk to the end of a journey.

I hold the opinion that an appropriate gift for a woman who is ninety years of age is a thank you note. A handwritten token of affection for the woman who started our story. 

Here is an excerpt.

Thank you for allowing me to help you so that I could feel trusted.

Thank you for your perseverance so that I could feel invested in.

Thank you for sharing family stories with me so that I could feel connected.

Thank you for loving my grandfather so that I could see what a relationship should look like.


For Christmas this year I sent my grandmother a thank you note.

I couldn't get to the mailbox fast enough. Those four scribbled notes of a lifetime of memories, stuffed in an envelope, a size too small, are the best present I could have ever given her. Someday, I want to be her.

Grateful from the veranda,
Alis