The Power of Thank You Cards
Lemony Snicket said, “I recommend learning how to write a very good thank you note. A child who can write a nice thank-you note can turn into a cocaine dealer five years later and be remembered as the child who wrote nice thank you notes.”
If you know me, you probably know of Words of Women. If you really know me, you’ve probably gotten a letter from me. This project is the joining of two of the things I love most in the world: quotes and thank you cards.
For those who don’t know me, my name is Lauren Mandy and I’m the founder of Words of Women. Seven years ago, I started a blog dedicated to sharing the thoughts and words of women. A few years later, I wrote a book (The Book of Moods) about how those words helped me. Then, a few months ago, I tried to buy a card…
I was at CVS. It was Father’s Day. Yet as I stood in that fluorescent aisle I became agitated. Why should I spend $8 on a card that someone will just throw away? Everything was so cheesy and generic and contrived. And expensive. Then I had an idea: Why not create my own? I have the words. I’ve been collecting them for almost a decade.
The beauty of quotes is they give you a way to say how you feel when you don’t have the words. That’s the toughest part about writing, isn’t it? Knowing what to say. Now, imagine you had a stack of greeting cards with beautiful, unique, heart-warming, profound messages that expressed exactly how you felt? Now imagine if you sent it every time you thought about someone. Because you have the card right there, because you don’t need to find a way to say it. You just need to mail it.
It’s not just a thank you or birthday card, but a chance to connect, to touch, to express oneself. When you sit down to write on one of these cards, when you read the words expressed on the front, you’ll be surprised how it unlocks your own words, the feelings pouring out. And if you can really sit and write directly, with your heart, for five, even two, minutes, you are allowing yourself to experience something as close to the genuine human experience as we’ll ever get. And in return, you’re creating an experience for someone else. That, I believe, is worth writing a card for.
