Just a Note to Say... The Perfect Words for Every Occasion

One: Making Connections in Changing Times When I had my first baby, I received a gift at the hospital with a note that read, "To Jonathan: We're so glad you're here." I'll always remember that noteand the person who sent it. This baby was one I feared I'd never have. I had tried to become pregnant, unsuccessfully, for three years and had watched other women wheeling baby carriages, feeling waves of despair that I would never have the chance. Then, magically, a few days before I was due for an appointment with yet another infertility specialist, I received the good newsI was pregnant. Though my doctor warned me that things could yet go wrongI could miscarryI willed it to be all right, and it was. When I saw my beautiful, perfect son for the first time, all the heartache and doubt and fear that I'd never have a child was swept away and I felt an exquisite joy. This was not just a baby, this was the most wanted baby in the world. That brief but meaningful note let me know that someone else understood my happiness. Oddly enough, the writer of the note was not a close friend, but at the moment I read her words, we shared a special bond. She had acknowledged how much this child meant to me. If she had simply called or signed her name to a printed card, I'd have appreciated it. But, as I learned that day, there's nothing like a personal note to make you feel touched and remembered. That fact remains truer than ever today. In this age of impersonal technology, a handwritten note makes a human connection that is as valuable as the sentiments expressed. CHANGING TIMES In other centuries, people had to write notes and letters to stay in touch with friends, family, and others important to them. On a trip to Mount Vernon, I learned that George Washington wrote almost forty thousand letters during his lifetime. Of course, technology provides many other ways of communicating today. You turn on your speedy computer and push a button to e-mail your friends, family members, and others at work or in the community. You can contact anyone on the phone from a train, in your car, or virtually anywhereeven walking down the street. You also can send an instant text message. Yet there is a difference between talking and connecting--and that's what this book is all about. The reality is, you just don't express yourself on the telephone in the same way as you do on paper. The give-and-take of conversation interrupts the flow of thought; the immediate feedback from the other person seems to stifle free expression rather than facilitate it. That's why a phone conversation with someone you love can sometimes feel so unsatisfyingthe human connection is incomplete. When you speak on a cell phone, noisy distractions in public places or service interruptions add extra jarring notes. E-mail and text messages discourage you from slowing down and giving thought to what you write. The whole point is quick communication, not pensiveness and deliberation. In these uncertain times, the need to connect seems more urgent than ever. Special occasions offer the opportunity to do that, whether you're adding a few lines to a store-bought birthday greeting or writing your own stand-alone note to say, "Hello, I miss you," to a loved one in another state or on another coast or thousands of miles away in another country. When you write, there is no response to distract you from reaching within and exploring exactly what you feel and want to say. There is no gadget or other equipment to act as a barrier. What there is is an enormous sense of satisfaction. One woman told me, "When I write, I speak a whole different language. I become more open. It's as if a poetic part of me seems to spill out." At tIsaacs, Florence is the author of 'Just a Note to Say... The Perfect Words for Every Occasion' with ISBN 9780517703489 and ISBN 0517703483.