The tradition of a hand-written thank you note.

I am going out on a little limb with this post. My recently graduated son is leaving for college today.  He had many thank you notes to write since his high school graduation party on June 3rd.  And, a week-long trip to Italy that started a week later delayed this a bit.  Admittedly, the writing of the notes took him a while. First, he made a list. Then, he typed what he wanted to say on a google doc, and finally, he hand wrote his thank you notes.  Most were sent out within a month of his graduation party, where the majority of them were received.

Today, as we packed the van to move him to college, he had two final notes to go out. They were personal notes he had written to one of the high school administrators and one of the teachers at the high school that he very much connected with in his final years.  Both of these young men appreciated my son for who he was in high school. Neither came to his party, most likely for the obvious reasons that it is difficult to go to one student’s party and not another. My son understood this. He knew they valued him as a person. Now was his turn to tell them the same.

Actually, I had no idea that he had written these notes. He had talked about it but I had assumed that they were done and sent out with the rest of the thank you notes last month. It was only last week when my son told me that he still needed to mail the final thank you notes to these two educators.  I put them in the mailbox this morning. As my son starts his journey in a new city, at a new school, these educators – who listened, supported, encouraged, and I believe – understood my son, will receive a heartfelt note from him.  I am so happy that they will know of their impact on him.  It makes me proud.

In this day and age of technology, receiving a hand-written thank you note in the mail is a special treat. It is a throw back to the old days when thank you notes were commonly sent quickly after receiving a gift or other such act of kindness. The note is really such a small token of appreciation and one that should not be overlooked. The sending of my son’s completed of thank you notes indicates that he has experienced the power of gratitude – of both the giving and receiving gifts. It will serve him well in the future.

To all those who supported Matt during his years of education by teaching, listening, giving of yourself, coaching, tutoring, mentoring, and even learning from him – please consider this post a heartfelt thank you from me.  He’s on his way!