When I started this blog in 2008, I was going through one of the toughest periods in my life. I stopped posting soon afterwards, because I felt my inner negativity seeping into the forced sweetness of my "thank you" letters. I can't even begin to tell you how many letters I had written, or started writing, and promptly scrapped because they sounded so bitter and self-pitying (and dry/sarcastic/etc. etc.)!

I'm reading them now, in a much more uplifted headspace though still struggling with depression and general appreciating things, and they're not so bad. I want to go back to writing gratitude lists and "thank you" letters on a regular basis, but mostly just to keep to myself. For now, I am still contemplating using this blog for general musing over life choices, but from a place of deep gratitude and appreciation.

However, to anyone looking for regular "thank you" letters, I must MUST point out that since the start of this blog nearly four years ago, another one, much funnier, more relateable and WAY prettier, was started in 2009 based on the very same idea and is still going strong today. I present to you, "THXTHXTHX: a thank you note a day" by Leah Dieterich, who even has a book out based on her blog!

So THANK YOU, Leah Dieterich, for using your mother's etiquette teachings to make your slice-of-life, bright-part-of-your-day blog! Thank you for doing a MUCH better job than I ever could have, for doing justice to the power of gratitude and to the art of letter-writing. I hope to spend a quiet afternoon reading your entire blog over a giant mug of herbal tea one day. I know it will make me smile from ear to ear, and that I will be learning many much-needed lessons from you.

<3!