news-record.com

As a writer, every once in a while I feel like I really find the words people are eager to hear.

Rest assured, I search for just the right topics and words with each column I write. Every once in a while, however, you hit a home run. It just happened for me with the “Thank-you note” column.

In a world of e-mails, text messages and quirky communications, like the Twitter thing that I totally do not get, it’s so reassuring to know that the tradition of writing notes is being nurtured and carried forward.

And that’s saying a lot considering I’m not sure anyone even learns cursive writing any more, much less can pen something more in depth than 140 characters on the face of a cell phone.

In fact, will our children even understand the term “pen?”

Juli Parker’s sons will.

Mother and music teacher Juli Parker of High Point is a devoted writer of thank-you notes and has brought up her sons, Robert and John, to do the same. Bless you. Sons who write thank-you notes might very well be on the verge of extinction.

“From the time I can remember, my mother always sat the four of us sisters down and had us write thank-you notes after birthdays, Christmas, visits to others’ homes, etc. Amazingly enough, I do not remember it as drudgery, just something we did,” Parker remembers.

“I truly believe that over the course of the years, this act instilled a deeper appreciation of the art of giving and receiving,” Parker explained. “I did the same with our boys and as recently as a few months ago, Alan’s father commented something to the effect, 'You know, out of all our six grandchildren, your boys are the only ones who ever write thank-you notes.’ To which Alan’s mother added, 'And it does not go unnoticed.’ ”

Aha, the gracious nod of approval from a mother-in-law. Now that’s noteworthy.

“As Robert went off to college this year and had his first birthday away from home in October, I wondered if he would continue doing so on his own,” Parker said. “I found out, when my mother called to let me know she had received his thank-you note. Isn’t it nice when our children make us proud?”

Absolutely. One of the highest compliments anyone can pay to our children is to say they have manners. Mark my words, good manners will carry you far in this world. And thank-you notes are an important part of the package, my friends.

Marlene Baruch of Jamestown, the nurse who coordinates genetic testing at Piedmont Comprehensive Women’s Center, echoes Juli’s words. She too grew up with the tradition and gentle expectation that thank-you notes were to be written. Period. It’s just what we do.
Today she’s the proud grandmother of a 51/2-year-old grandson who is learning the tradition.

“After Christmas I got a thank-you note from my grandson — totally written by him,” Baruch said. Baruch’s daughter has been teaching the child about thank-you notes for some time — initially writing the note for the boy and then letting him draw pictures on the note. This Christmas the prekindergartner took on the whole task all by himself. “I’ll keep it for ever,” Baruch said.

“It’s such a dying art. My mother would get so irritated if she didn’t get a thank-you note after she’d sent a wedding gift,” she said. “ 'They had the time to send the invitation. They should take the time to write a thank-you note,’ ” she explained.

Oh does that memory strike a chord in many of us.

Take Nancy Amos of High Point, who is clearing out her parents’ home after her mother’s death and her father’s move to a retirement community. She found a gem the other day — her mother’s handwritten rough draft of thank-you notes.

For me (and I’m willing to bet for you too) that brings back memories of my own mother sitting at the kitchen table with pretty engraved note cards on one side, a nice pen that was reserved for note writing (not grocery lists) and scraps of paper with her carefully crafted words of appreciation.

I must admit that I do not write rough drafts of thank-you notes. Usually my notes are already composed in my head. But I’m a writer, so that’s just what I do. Our moms wrote drafts and, for some reason, I’d forgotten about that until I started getting feedback from you, dear readers.

To have your mother’s handwriting — and her thoughts — after her death. Amos has found a treasure.

Treasures: rough drafts from a mother long gone; words of affirmation from a mother and a grandmother who knows they have each passed along a worthy tradition; the first real note from the heart and the hand of a young grandson.

And memories of lessons well learned.

Treasures indeed.

Contact Cathy Weaver at CWeaverNR@gmail.com.