Thank You from the New York Times

There was a surprise in my Sunday paper yesterday. No not the mea culpa headline from Cisneros for the subsidized housing project we are now underwriting. THAT we should have had long ago. No, there was a thank you gift tucked inside. A gift of thanks to me for having the paper home delivered. Those are note cards with cool photographs on them from New York Times photographers. I have long been a subscriber because I love to feel the paper in my hands. The newspaper was a ritual when I was a little one. One I carry on. My dad and my grandfather used to sit me on their laps as they read the paper, and teach me how to read. And it does kind of bring the world to your doorstep. But how cool it was to get a simple gift of thanks from them, a useful one that gave me pleasure.

And that little bracelet in the photo, is a thank you from a five year old, for visiting her school on Friday. It was another pleasure for me and yet I got a gift of friendship. I liked that too. And yes , I wore it home. Look at all those colors. It is a very happy bracelet.

And yesterday I strayed from my routine, but I got the gifts of conversations with people I had never met: Some ladies, one of whom is a Dallas Public School teacher ( they are going through some lay offs due not to the economy, but to mismanagement of funds); A Palestinian businessman who now lives in New York ( wow, try that one, I will probably be talking about that again); and an interior designer ( we met over a dad and his crying baby, she offered to connect me here in Dallas with her colleagues.).

Oh there's lots of stress and things to do. Yes, we all have those. And the clock is ticking, but I think I'll take some time this week to send a few thank you's of my own. Yep, one of my 3 Most important Tasks, it's going on that to do list. Because I am thankful for it all, especially the conversations: the chill I got from the public schoolers when I even mentioned private schools, the Palestinian who talked about sometimes when we need an enemy we invent one, and the lovely Paige who actually may have a client for my work here in town. The note cards, the bracelets, and conversations....each are impacting my thoughts this week. I suspect there's a muse at work, gently intriguing me. Leading me to explore something.

So I am letting these thoughts sift. Yes, it is Organizing Monday, here's another work filled week. The lists, I am attacking those. The paint, well you will see more of that. But sometimes, a simple series of unexpected pleasures can be a reminder to relax, just take it in. Listen. Pause a moment in between the work. And maybe send some thank you's out myself.


How about you, have you ever gotten an unexpected thank you that made a difference in your day?