Thank You Cards

Today I decided to write off some looooong overdue thank you cards to my recommenders. I am quite the stationery whore and my drawer full of William Arthur cards and French milled paper just wasn't cutting it for me. I wanted elegant simple cards that said "Thank You" on them.

I drove over to Vroman's Bookstore and surveyed their fine selection of Crane's, William Arthur, Kate Spade, and Vera Wang stationery (it is so hot my toes get burned just from walking around).

They have a whole shelf stacked full of Thank you notes and first, I sat down on the carpet, talking on my cell phone to Lydia who had just called. After about 20 minutes of chatting and staring at the card boxes, I told her I needed to make a decision before I answered her question about how you know when you are supposed to break up with someone.

I hung up and stared at all the different kinds of ways you can say Thank You to someone. Lilac felt a bit dead. Hot pink felt too perky. Green was ok but the Vera Wang box of perfectly chartreuse trimmed cards were $30.50 for 10 cards/envelopes!!! RIP OFF. So I kept looking and looking and looking.

And you know what I learned from this whole experience? "THANK" is a really strange word. Very very strange. It almost does not sound English. When you see "THANK" and read it over a hundred times in different sizes, colors, and fonts, it starts feeling absurd. Almost like you are in Deutschland.

It's also a very ugly and harsh way to show your gratitude for someone. It's like you're spanking them with your phonetics. SPANK you. SPANK you very much.

It would be so much prettier if a simple "Lalala" meant thanks. Lalala you. Lalala all over you. I lalala you.

I didn't buy anything. I did call Lydia back though. And I said, "Where were we? Of course, BREAKING UP. Oh yes, how do you know when you're supposed to break up with someone. Really, there's no way you can deduce it to rational explanations.....It's a mystery."

"THANK you, Hanna!" she exclaimed. "Oh my gosh, THANK you!!! That's exactly what I was not expecting to hear but what I needed to hear. Thank you."

It's a dawg hot summer day.