The Power of the THANK YOU

I’m only 39, but apparently that is old enough to make me an “old fuddy duddy.” I believe in hand written letters and homemade cards. I also believe in thanking people in person and sending thank you notes when you can’t.

They are a pain to write sometimes, but honestly, it’s the right thing to do. If someone went out of their way for you, whether it was just a nice gesture or whether someone spent time and money traveling across the country to attend your wedding, you should thank them. It might be just a wave to the car that let you in, or a smile and quick “Thanks” to a stranger that held the door for you. But it counts. And it encourages that person to repeat those actions for others. When you stop getting thanked, you stop caring, because no one seems to care about what you've done for them.

My grandparents expect thank you cards for the $2 they send for your birthday. If they don’t receive one, they will stop sending the $2. It’s really about the principle, not the money. And as I get older, I understand that philosophy more. I make my boys write thank you notes all the time. I hope they understand that it’s important and not just busy work.  

I get irritated when I utilize my time and money for someone and I don’t even get a measly text message telling me thanks. I’m OK not getting a handwritten note, because I know times have changed, but some acknowledgement of the gift I thoughtfully picked out for you, but couldn't be there to hand to you in person would be a nice thing. I’m starting to think that when I can’t be there in person to give someone a gift, I should just forget it, since more and more of the recipients don't seem to care enough to thank me.

I like doing things for people. I volunteer my time. I give my money. I try to pay things forward. I am not motivated by money, but rather appreciation. It gives me warm fuzzies inside knowing I could do something for someone or a group of people and they really appreciate my efforts.

I volunteered to review portfolios for interior design students at UNI. The professors bought me lunch and thanked me for taking time out of my day.  I received a hand written thank you for doing something I love: designing invitations for a Main Street Cedar Falls event. I was completely floored, as I certainly wasn't expecting anything. Since I volunteered to make the invitation, I considered it part of my “job” being on the committee I am on. I want to do more for them since I know I am appreciated. I received a hand written thank you for a donation of a cool bag for the IIDA (International Interior Design Association) Holiday party. I don’t ever remember getting a hand written thank you for previous donations. A verbal “thank you” is perfectly fine, but I almost felt the need to thank the party committee for the thank you they sent me because it meant so much.

As I write this, I realize I am overdue in showing my mother in law my appreciation for her renewing our recreation center memberships. It’s now #1 on my “to do” list tomorrow. Life has been crazy busy, and my memory is horrible of late, but a belated “thank you” is still a thank you.

(Update: Here's the card I made my mother in law this morning.)

So thank you, dear readers, for taking time out of your day to read my little blog. As the number climbs on the “reads” on my page, I truly appreciate all the people in my life that take a little time out of theirs for me. 

Spring Break: An Overview

We only have the boys every other year for spring break and have traditionally traveled to San Antonio and stayed with friends. This year, those friends are in between houses and are living in a small townhouse. No room for us.

So in looking for warmer places to go I started researching South Carolina. I wanted access to the ocean. I somehow stumbled upon Beaufort.  It was near Parris Island (Marines train there and for 2 summers their Marine Band came to play at Sturgis Falls), not too far from Savannah, and not too far from Charleston. Done. I found a condo that would accept dogs too, as we wanted to take them along with us. However, once I researched a rental van, the decision was made to leave them behind.

When we go on vacation with the boys, there are always elements of historical relevance peppered into the mix, or, as in the case of our Gettysburg trip last summer, history is the main focus.  Even when we went to San Antonio, we visited the Alamo.

San Antonio 2010

We left Iowa on a Friday evening at about 7:00 pm and drove. And drove. And drove.  This is what Eric and I do on long car rides. We drive straight through. It saves a lot of time and money (no hotels). We made it to our townhouse at about 2:30 pm on Saturday.  We unpacked, we napped, went to the grocery store, showered and relaxed.

Sunday we went into downtown Beaufort and walked around downtown and drove around the area. We also headed to Hilton Head where we found a beach for the kids to dip their toes into the Atlantic for the first time.

 Monday we went to Charleston. It was rainy and cold for St. Patty’s day. We stopped by the Charleston Museum, oldest museum in the country. We wandered around downtown and ate a late lunch at an Irish pub, after watching a Pipe Band play several songs when we walked in the door. We then went to Ft. Moultrie to see some history. We toured the fort and found out how to get to Ft. Sumter. Since it was cold, we decided we would make the 80 minute drive again on Thursday.

Tuesday was supposed to be even colder and wetter than Monday, so we didn’t plan much. It ended up not raining, but it was pretty chilly. We decided to get out of the house that evening and go bowling.

Wednesday we got up a little early and headed to Savannah. I was very excited about seeing this city. We parked at a train museum, where Eric started drooling immediately, and crossed the street to the museum/visitor’s center where we purchased passes for an on/off bus tour of the city. It was beautiful. Eric couldn’t believe the history in the city. I thought the planning of it was ingenious and the trees and houses were breathtaking. I fell in love with all of the wrought iron.

 

In an effort to get back to the train museum in time to see some things, we probably didn’t see as much of Savannah as we should have. But trains are IMPORTANT people! We were able to ride on a hand cart, and ride on a coal train. It was actually a really fun experience.

 

On the way out of town, I took my friend Krista’s advice, and we stopped at Leopold’s Ice Cream. As you can see by Tyler’s expression, it was DELICIOUS! It’s probably good I don’t live closer, or I’d be 500 lbs.

The deliciousnous of Leopold's Ice Cream can not be contained.

Thursday we went back to Charleston so we could go to Ft. Sumter. We picked up our tickets for the boat ride and headed out on the water. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were treated to several dolphin sightings.  We got to Ft. Sumter and had a great history lesson provided by a park ranger. We then wandered about the fort, soaking in the history. For those of you who may not know, Ft. Sumter is where the Civil War began.

 Ft. Sumter used to be 3 stories tall until it took the impact of  73,000,000 tons of iron in battle.

We left the afternoon free so we could drive to Kiawah Island and spend more time on a beach. It was very windy and a little chilly at 63 degrees, but it was beautiful. We collected some shells and Eric built a fort, and put some new toy soldiers on it.

Friday we went horseback riding at Camelot Farms on St. Helena Island.  The boys had never been on horses before. They had a blast. 

Clockwise: Shoes, Apache, Kid, Wizard

We then went to Hunting Island State Park. It looked like Jurassic Park from the road, with all of the Palmetto trees. However, we also decided to go up the lighthouse, all 167 steps, and the view from above was all pine trees. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent in Beaufort. We went to retrieve our free chocolate sand dollars from a candy store and passed this national cemetery on the way. So after the chocolates, we backtracked. It was pretty impressive.  We then went back downtown and went through a few of the stores. The kids played at a play ground while Eric and I sat on a “porch” swing and enjoyed the sun and sound of the water.

National Cemetery in Beaufort

The next morning we packed up and headed home. It was a much longer drive home due to the GPS wanting to send us through Atlanta, and by the time I discovered that, we were an hour into the trip. We backtracked so we could go through Lexington instead. Note to self: always travel with an atlas in the car. The temperature on the car read 80 degrees somewhere in South Carolina, and by the time we pulled in the driveway at 5:30 am on Sunday morning, the temperature now read 17 degrees. Iowa was punishing us for leaving.