I Wrote A Letter

In all my years, I have never written a letter to another author but that changed yesterday morning. I had started to hand-write my letter but realized quickly that my handwriting has gotten worse as I've gotten older. 

I put my thoughts to keyboard and wrote a thank-you letter, not a note or a card but a letter to Jason "Foxy" Fox. Yes, the guy probably mostly known best for his appearance on the UK TV show SAS: Who Dares Wins. There is an Amercian version of the show Special Forces: World's Toughest Test. As mentioned in my last couple of posts, I read his first book Battle Scars. I finished his 2nd book this morning while his 3rd book sits on my table amongst a pile of other books to read.

I wrote my letter and expressed my gratitude as his story allowed me to make a life course correction. I learned that I had become disconnected from myself and had unknowingly forgotten how resilient I am and that I have persevered before. I had forgotten my battle scars which I'm still trying to figure out how I managed to let that happen.  

Regardless, I wrote my letter and with a bit of fear and hesitation I mailed it. Whether he actually gets it is another thing, but I did my part and sent my appreciation out into the world, more precisely to his publisher. I will admit I hesitated in sending the letter because I allowed myself to be vulnerable to him. He had the courage to be that way in his book, the least I could do was be vulnerable in kind. There was no way I was going to thank him by an email message or some post.  Given the subject matter of the letter, it was the best path to take.

It's the best path for all of us to take.  Seriously, we need to write thank-you letters more often to each other. We need to let people know we are thinking of them. I've been doing that since COVID started, sending cards or postcards to my friends randomly, it's my way of checking in on them and letting them know I'm thinking of them. I thought about stopping and told a few friends I was going to stop, and they asked that I didn't.  I decided to cut my mailing list down which was a compromise.

Everyone is struggling, hurting, surviving - even me. I'm not struggling as much as before but we are all going to have a few hiccups from time to time. It's life and some days are better than others, but we can strive to find a good balance.  Getting a random card or postcard in the mail with a few words does make a difference. I didn't think it was making a difference but then my friends spoke up about it.

Go forth and spread joy my friends. Send a random card to one friend, a few friends or all of your friends.  As long as it comes from a good place you can't go wrong. When I say, 'good place', I mean from the heart. Your intentions must be good. Don't half ass it. 

Today, I leave you with "Letters from Home" by John Michael Montgomery. 

Rock on!

~Maynard