Tip #392 Relative Relations; Gift Concierge

     As a society with access to computers and/or smart phones, we can communicate with virtually anybody at any time, in any place, and do it relatively inexpensively. The drawback to the modern way of doing things is that the personal touch can get lost. I remember being ecstatic about receiving a letter from my Aunt Sue when I was little. She wrote a few different times, and although I would have been excited to get an email from her, there is something even more special about receiving something that someone has gone to the effort required to send by mail. 

    Now lets consider that if she wanted to send me those letters, or a card or gift, but was confined to her home or a hospital because of trauma or illness - that would have been a harder order to fill. And if she was recovering at home and not able to get up and around, it would still be tricky; she'd have to go to the store to get a card, or make one and go to the post office to buy a stamp and then mail it. Doesn't sound like much to some, but if you've lived recovery it makes more sense; physical energy is a limited commodity. Alternatively, she could ask someone to pick it out (which is not fun) or to mail it, but then she is at the mercy of another person's schedule to do it. More difficult than that however, it's hard to ask others that are being generous with their time and energy to help at this time in life already, and asking them to mail a letter isn't always easy to ask. It's not life or death, but it's important to feel like you can help make your loved ones feel valued, respected, or cherished, and to feel like you can contribute to relationships you value, whilst not overwhelming your loved ones who are already helping you accomplish said contributions. Ug.

    Guess what? Today I learned a way of sending a card without exerting any physical energy at all - inexpensively - without the need to depend on your loved ones to help you. I got a beautiful card in the mail from a friend, and was astounded how beautiful the card was, and that it was a field of wheat (makes us crazy farmers happy!). Opening it, it had pictures of those who sent the card, and a message that looked handwritten by her - which was very cool. Even the envelope looked handwritten, though I think it was typed (ie. had a personal feel). My friend used a company called SendoutCards. If you go to their site, they have different options - which are two-fold. The options I am interested in and writing about are their card products and their consumable gifts (like chocolate), or practical gifts (like a special envelope sized notebook (a cute one at that)). There is also info there about becoming a distributor and other things but I am not interested in that, and am not promoting it - just the cards and the gifts. I'm sure there are other companies that offer the same or similar services - I just happened to benefit from this one…I hope that if you consider using such a service, that it helps you feel more independent and gives you a feeling of  being more in control in whatever it is that you'd like to do in order to show loved ones that you celebrate them. Hope you have fun with it - it's like having your own personal gift concierge. 

Happy celebrating!