"Thank you so much for a lovely party…."

This past Saturday was my daughter's 9th Birthday Party. The note that I have attached, was written by my mom about 4 years ago It was just the type of note that she loved to leave after visiting, tucked away, so that we would find it sometime after she was gone. She did this all the time. She loved to tuck away notes; in bags, in shirt pockets, wherever. She used to love to leave them in my stepfathers' briefcase, and he did it for her, often in her travel bags. What an absolutley wonderful thing to do. Really, if you think about it, these are all just love notes. I found the note above a little over a year ago, and have left it up on a bulletin board in my daughter's play area ever since. It has been a lovely little reminder of her affection, and voice each time I walk by it, and it felt so perfect to turn my eyes to it again on her birthday. She was there, she is always there. This made me think a lot about notes, actual handwritten notes in our digital age. Do kids pass notes in class any more? Or is it all via text? I guess I will find out. A very dear friend of our family's also has two daughters, and at one dinner party, he pulled out a box of short notes that he had saved. They were notes he had written to insert in his daughters lunch boxes every day. Most of them had a quick comment and illustration, and on their own, were little bits of paper, but togther, they created a volume. A collection of littles squeezes and pecks from their dad that would show up mid day, each day, as they tucked into their meals. Who knows if they would arrive on a good, bad or meh day, but they would always arrive. Bravo friend. That was so inspiring to us that we began to do it, but never with such skill. I would like to believe that this whole blog is really one long love note to my mother, one long letter. It gives me a voice to communicate with her. I don't know if she hears it all, but I really like to believe that she does.