the power of saying "thank you"

A few weeks ago I posted a picture of Oscar. It was a sweet moment in our house, and I had grabbed my camera to document Oscar quietly sitting at our kitchen table. I posted it on the blog and moved on with my weekend. A few days later I received a knock at the door. When I opened the door a delivery man handed me a big box from the folks at Minute Maid. I was a bit confused. I opened up the box and read a letter that said....

"Dear Lindsay, I have been a fan of your blog for years and was delighted to see a pic you posted the other day of Oscar drinking a Minute Maid Juice Box ...... I wanted to send a note and a little thank you for choosing Minute Maid"

Stepping back, I'm occasionally sent thing in the mail because of this blog. It's a perk, and I am very much appreciative of the fact that companies want to connect*. I don't always post what I'm sent unsolicited but this particular experience made me think of the power of saying "Thank You". 

Keep in mind I hadn't written a post about Minute Maid juice boxes -  I simply has posted a photo of Oscar quietly drinking one at our kitchen table. But they noticed that we had their product in our house and took the time to write a lovely letter to say those two words - thank you. And it made me feel pretty awesome. 

What I walked away with was remembering that saying "Thank You" is a powerful thing to do for someone else. Have you ever watched a TED talk? Laura Trice does a short talk on "Thank You". 

One of my earliest memories of the power of "Thank You" was when I was in Grade 1. My friends Mother used to get us each a piece of licorice from the convenience store beside the school before I'd get on the yellow school bus to go home. One day after school my friend told me (either I asked, or they told me because kids at that age are super honest) that I was no longer going to get a treat from her Mom because  I hadn't been saying "Thank You" for the treat(s). Obviously the exact events are a blur but I can't forget that feeling of embarrassment for forgetting my manners. 

Just interesting to think of moments in our lives where the act of saying thank you, or hearing it said to us has been powerful. (Or forgetting to say it and not getting candy)

Lindsay

Ps., Thank you for taking part in my blog. I love having this blog as an outlet to discuss ideas, share thoughts and post pretty pictures. :)

*Thank you! :)