I’ll try my best to have Paris pictures…but the snow here is all gone

Mark: Fuddy-duddy or inculcated (brainwashed?) with Southern good manners? Call it what you will, but I still believe that getting something in the mail OTHER than bills and advertisements is FUN and NICE and I’m going to keep brightening people’s days in this fashion. Of course you know that I appreciate your mischievous, shit-disturbing habits, but I am aware that a traditional thank-you need not be trite or “pat” and always try to make all my expressions of gratitude sincere. But I’ll remember your distaste for such things and promise to never send you one. The absence of a thank-you card in your mailbox will be my expression of gratitude to you!

Blanca: Muchas gracias por sus palabras simpaticos!

And congrats on the publishment. Just how many little essays have you slipped out there that we should be looking for?

Who could be surprised at your success? Only you — and that only because of an overly-decorous modesty. Secret: the rest of us knew your triumphs are only a matter of time and sequence, and we will be watching closely for quite a while to come.

As for your essay: nicely written, as always; but you are such a fuddy-duddy!

A quick story. I took the three daughters of one of my law partners to a women’s professional soccer game, years ago, when they were young. They had a fabulous time and, as we drove home, I promised to take them out regularly, which made them quite happy. But I had one inviolate condition: they could not write me a thank you note. They fell deathly silent. Even if they wanted to comply, their parents would kill them if they didn’t write thank you notes. A day or two later, I received three lovely letters, each saying what a wonderful time they’d had at the game and that they hoped we could make a habit of going out regularly. And, p.s., did I notice that they’d not said thank you anywhere in the letter.

I wanted them to know that it was not always necessary to be formal with those to you are close. (Plus, I’m a shit disturber.) They took the challenge to write very thoughtful letters of gratitude — interesting and sincere precisely because they didn’t have the pat lines of the traditinal thank you note to fall back on.

I tried to wean them from your principle; but they came back and affirmed it thrice-over.

(yes, I had written and sent her a card just last week!)