Update: It took almost 3 years, but before I moved to India in March of 2021, I had mailed out every single one of those hundreds and hundreds of postcards.
It began a long time ago when I was a young girl. My family did not have a camera nor the money for souvenirs. So it was an ingenious idea of my parents to allow each of us children to choose one postcard from every place we went. So whether it was a day trip to the zoo or to a park or to a museum, each place we went we were permitted to choose one postcard as a remembrance of that day. Each of us also had a bulletin board hung beside our bed and here we would hang these treasured memories in postcard form, decorating our space and changing them out with the seasons or with shifting whims of childhood.
Over the years friends began to learn of this postcard collection and they were happy to add to it either by sending me postcards or bringing me back blank postcards from their travels. And indeed this habit endured beyond childhood as I would continue to collect blank postcards from the places that I traveled alone or with friends.
I hadn't thought much about this postcard collection for many many years. The last several years brought struggles and changes that didn't always allow for traveling nor the time to reminisce thru the past. My postcard collection stayed in a box in the attic and forgotten.
But change is a constant so once again my life is seeing significant changes. I began to go through all of my belongings reevaluating what to keep, what to pass along and what to throw away. I came upon this postcard collection and letters from friends - so many postcards and notes that I saved over the years. Many of these cards I have continued to save in a safe place with other beloved memories and treasures from the past. But all of these blank postcards I felt it was time to release.
So I have decided to take these memories of the past and essentially send them back to my past, back to the people that were significant to me or supported me throughout these years or months or however long I have known you. I have decided to send these postcards out to people that have been important in my life, people that come to mind maybe for no reason on any particular day. It is my intention each day to send out a postcard filled with gratitude to you, beautiful souls, that have helped me along my journey in big and small ways. A postcard from me to you expressing gratitude every single day until this large stack of blank postcards is no more.
If you are reading this blog now then you are a significant soul in my journey just because you have come along for the ride, you have observed me through my blog in these struggles and adventurers maybe for years or only months but you're reading this now and so we have a connection. If you would like to receive a postcard from me, please email me privately with your address and I will be happy to include a message to you as I go through this stack of gratitude.
In closing, I want to say a sincere thank you, for this stack of gratitude I have accumulated in this life's journey, which I intend to send back out into the universe.
Love and Gratitude,
Jennifer
