I've decided against a Christmas letter this year.The form letter, a staple in Christmases past,
stumped me this year.
There's too much to describe.
A typed page seems inadequate.
How do you capture the important things?
Grandmother died, went to the Grand Canyon, brother moved to other side of globe, I turned 40...
it all sounds trite in summation.
How do I describe the fact
that I fall in love so quickly these days,
with my hospice patients,
my coworkers,
the children in my life,
my friends at church,
the cats and dogs I encounter,
the birds on my birdfeeder?
How do I describe
the accumulated memory
of the people I've met
and the places I've seen
and the deep impact
of the smallest and most profound
of daily experiences?
Maybe, instead of a quick form letter,
I'll take the time to write letters
to the people in my address book
and in my heart.
It will probably take the better part of the year,
but a handwritten letter
is such a strange treasure
these electronic days.
Handwritten letters...
and ongoing blog entries.
And the knowledge that the most important
experiences and feelings and thoughts and learnings
will never be publically reported,
only lived.
2 comments:
This comment just in from Jan through email...thought it was worth posting:
>>Checked out your blog just now and was tickled to see you had a new post. And a darn lovely one at that. I especially liked the notion of your grandmother going to the Grand Canyon. (You know, “Grandmother died, went to the Grand Canyon.”)<<
Sounds like a good place to go.
Tis a great post. Understand the sentiments, but we went forward with the form letter. It came out a bit strange, but it is good to keep people updated when you are as bad at keeping in touch as I am...
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