I think the age difference may certainly be a factor! I didn’t grow up writing thank you cards. I only ever got gifts from my parents and grandparents and they were all given in person. So of course we had to say thank you but we didn’t send any notes. And for cards, I was never really taught to send thank you messages. I’m writing a birthday card for my aunt right now and I would be very surprised if she contacted me to say thank you for a card.
I think I do send thank you messages about 75% of the time when I get something from Lettuce friends, but sometimes I forget. I think since the start of this thread I’ve probably got about 100 cards and letters (haven’t counted them but it’s a big stack) and my irl friends are sending increasing amounts of snail mail too. I guess I should start scheduling time in my diary to attend to my correspondence like the ladies in the old days did! The postman has already commented on the amount of mail I get, and that there’s so much international mail.
9 Likes
AIMR
(Linda -2026 time to regroup and renew :us:)
2407
I love it when my mailman comments on the mail I get…he has never been anywhere so he is happy to see all of the stamps and interesting decorations on the envelopes!
He jokes that I keep his job safe! lol
9 Likes
Smmarrt
(Susan - You can just add more paint!)
2408
My letter carrier recognized an envelope on her supervisor’s desk - addressed to me. She knows I get “fancy” envelopes but the supervisor had it on watch list!
I thought I said all I had to say but I was mostly speaking with my “organizer voice”… Here I am as a participant. I think @thanate hit the nail on the head with it having to do with logistics. If someone were to personally hand me a card/gift then of course I would say “thank you” then and there. When someone sends me a birthday or holiday gift I send a thank you card. But with happy mail it is so much more random! And more often! I love receiving everything and I try to say thank you on here when I get a chance… I have happy mail piled in stacks of “need to open”, “need to say thanks on LC”, “need to share a picture”, “need to send a letter reply”, “need to organize/store”, etc. And some days the piles look so big! Or they get covered with other pieces of my life and the whole process feels like too much. It’s just easier to put it off… I still need to say thanks for some things from maybe two weeks ago? And I still need to go check the mailbox… my computer is located upstairs on one end of the house and my desk with happy mail is downstairs on the opposite side of the house… and I forget. All. The. Time… to go down there and check what I have/who I received from… I get distracted. Quite honestly it’s not a top priority with everything else going on in my life. I just want to be able to enjoy the mail I get without the pressure I place on myself to say thank you, share pics, write back, etc… I especially don’t want to put that pressure on anyone else.
One of the things I love about this craftalong is that there are no “rules” and everyone can participate however they want. I appreciate the different points of view, I love learning about how each of us are different, but I don’t want to feel like anyone is doing anything “wrong”. Because there are no rules here and we shouldn’t assume our self-imposed rules apply to everyone.
That’s it. Sorry for the long rant I really want to move forward but I also wanted to open up a little more about where I’m coming from… It’s easy to misinterpret words written instead of spoken, so if I miss read it then I’m sorry @madebyBeaG. I’m ready to forgive and forget and move on now
I’ve never received stacks of Happy Mail. I rarely get two at the same day and I’ve gotten less then twenty in total, yet sent out more than fifty. So that might also be why we looked at it differently.
Anyhow, I love Happy Mail!
I’m still working on yours! Paradoxically, the people that I want to make something “special” for have to wait the longest! It’s much faster to send out a bought card or a card from stash. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate you if you’ve received a bought card from me by the way
Some time ago I got a lovely card and tea to try from @kittykill (the tea pouch is so cool I had to open it to see if it was really tea or pretty ephemera… maybe it’s both? )
That’s what I was thinking too. My sister and I send creepy postcards to each other all the time and those are on there a lot, but they usually peel off pretty easily without tearing the card. Here’s hoping!
I really want to move forward but I also wanted to open up a little more about where I’m coming from… It’s easy to misinterpret words written instead of spoken, so if I miss read it then I’m sorry 
…maybe that’s what happened in the masterboard swap? 
I got a whole lotta junk but also a postcard from 
so I had to guess what it said 
(the tea pouch is so cool I had to open it to see if it was really tea or pretty ephemera… maybe it’s both? 
)
Thank you! (I use stamps in ATCs and other small paper crafts 
)
