There is nothing like a hand-written note card from a friend, is there? At least not to me… For as long as I can remember I’ve loved to receive notes from friends…I also love to write notes, and to this day still have a note-card fetish…. hand soaps, note-cards, nail-polish must match the season, etc…as a friend so graciously pointed out to me yesterday, “You have a lot of quirks.” At almost 32, I’m finally embracing them.

In middle school notes were written during class, obviously… Didn’t every middle school class weigh popularity by the number of notes in your pocket at the end of the day?

In high school they were written in the midst of conflicts with friends… long, long, longgg notes. Writing thoughts down made it possible for my friends and I to process, to see differing opinions, to discuss. In person it was more difficult, emotions were heightened…it rarely ended well.

In college notes were used for encouragement. My roommates and I would leave notes for each other to make plans, to keep in touch (so sad since we lived together, but college was busy!). We also wrote notes to get each other through and over break-ups. One friend in particular always wrote me notes along with new underwear… is that weird? Typing it now it seems weird, but at the time it was my most favorite thing ever. I love her! Friends are amazing aren’t they?

In grad school notes were still a thing, and were often combined with mixed-CD’s (gotta love those! I still call them my love language…another quirk?). Grad school was awful for the most part and music got me through. I still have a “Science Sucks Mix” – by far a favorite from a friend…a friend that got me through some of the roughest times of my life. After Jerrod and I met we passed a lot of cards back and forth…some more creative than others, and often combined with music. He made me my “I love this song!” CD. It contains every song he’d heard me exclaim “I LOVE this song!!!” to when it came on the radio over the course of 3-4 months…dating months. It was a long CD…apparently I have a lot of songs I LOVE. He has a wizard-like memory…it’s scary amazing.   Not so amazing when he has trouble forgetting my many faults, sigh, but amazing none-the-less.

When did texting become a thing? I forget, but sometimes wish I could go back to the pre-texting days, because hand-written notes are just so lovely. And, I love receiving actual mail…not bills (duh), not credit card offers (seriously…could they just stop?), and definitely not welcome to the neighborhood now please use our services…aaarrggg!

Currently…in real life as I like to call it, note cards are fewer and farer between. We have instant access to our friends through text, Facebook, Instagram…you name it. Now we send notes to say “thank you,” to send condolences, to say we’re sorry. It’s so rare that we get a completely random, out of the blue, hand-written note. But…

I got one in the mail today. It made me happy. So happy. She said it made her think of me. Sunshine does make me high…she was spot on. I felt Known. Loved. Happy. Thank you.