Before you all start thinking about how amazing I am for fitting this into my jam packed schedule of summer activities....consider this.....my son's birthday was back in April.....and his party was in the beginning of May.....that's right folks - it has taken me 3 months to write up the thank you's and start getting them into the mail! I guess I got confused along the way and thought that you had a year to thank people after occasions - or is that just for weddings? Or is that just for "giving" a gift to the happily married couple? Are there rules for how long is TOO long? Would you rather receive a thank you note in the mail really, really late or really, really never?
In my defense (sort of) I lost the "thank you" list as I had written it down in a really poor place (on the back of a well-intentioned "What's for Dinner This Week" notepad) and it was misplaced for a while. Every few nights, after the kids were asleep, I would shuffle some papers around and try and locate it, but to no avail. To comfort myself, I would make myself a cocktail and as I sipped it through my fancy straw and twirled my cute little drink umbrella, I would think up a new strategy.
The bigger issue is that I seem to have this problem all the time. I continually find myself being late on sending pretty much everything to where it is supposed to be....
- School papers & permission slips....bad when the teacher has to email you repeatedly.
- Subscription renewals & birthday cards......I always seem to at least "buy' the cards on time, it's just the sending that's hard for me......
- RSVP's & "Will you be having the chicken or fish?" cards....I can't tell you how many calls I have received from "Bridezilla" or her mom......
- Signing the kids up for dance class or Sunday school....bless me Father for I have sinned (again..)
- Following up on mostly everything in life.....priceless?
I'm not sure when this happened exactly - I think that with the birth of each child it just got gradually worse. Not that it's their fault or anything like that.....I guess I just find myself spending my time differently now and my free time (when I should be writing thank you notes etc. is spent rejuvenating my body with a cold beverage...or two.....or three.......)
I feel really terrible that people obviously think I am ungrateful for their gifts, their time and/or their generosity - the truth is that I AM grateful but I am unable to put that into words, place it in an envelope and lick a stamp (too many steps....they have got to come up with something easier than this). Something that, in theory, should only take a few minutes seems like such a daunting task, one that is pushed to "tomorrow" and then, the next thing you know, it is months later and most people forgot they even gave your child something for their birthday (or they think you are a big jackass.....one of the two....)
Perhaps, I should think about having another baby because then everyone in town would refer to me as the "crazy mom with four kids, who never thanks people for anything and really should be put in a padded cell" - THEN maybe people wouldn't expect anything from me....hmmm.....maybe I'll give this idea some more thought.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll treat myself to a nice beverage and mull this one over........and then get back to trying to thank people the proper way (my mom would be so proud)......
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