On any given day, if you were to look at the surfaces in our house, you’d be likely to find a hand-written note or two, written by one family member and given to another family member. Put simply, we are a note family.
We know just where to leave notes so the intended recipient finds them. Chad leaves me notes on my daily planner or on my laptop. I leave C. notes on his bathroom sink or even on the toilet lid so he’ll be sure to see it first thing in the morning! Notes are sometimes found on the breakfast table, by the coffee maker, on top of a book, or near car keys.
What do our notes say? Anything and everything. They might be as simple as, “I love you. I’ll be praying for you today.” Or they might be double-sided tributes to a great weekend we had together. Chad’s even good about writing L. occasional notes that are primarily composed of Bob & Larry drawings.
Just last night, C. shared with me an electronic note that he’s been writing on his Palm. The topic? “Callapidder Days is awesome!” (See why I love this kid so much? On top all his other great qualities, I think he’s my blog’s #1 fan.)
The other day, I was trying to figure out when this note-writing tradition began, and I think I traced it back to the beginning of our marriage.
When Chad and I were newlyweds, he was working crazy hours at UPS, while I was gone during the “normal” hours of the day for college classes and work. We barely saw each other, so it was important to come up with little ways to keep in touch. Most nights, before I went to bed, I got the coffee maker ready so all Chad had to do in the wee hours of the morning was push the button to get things brewing (this was long before we could afford a programmable coffee maker!). After adding water, filter, and coffee grounds to the maker, I always added one finishing touch: a Post-It note on top of the coffee maker, letting him know I loved him.
[To be honest, though, even as I was writing this, I remembered that Chad was a prolific note-writer when we were dating. Clearly, notes were part of our relationship from the beginning.]
I own about one hundred miniature notebooks that I keep scattered throughout the house, in my purse, in the car… you never know when you might need to jot down an idea or make a list! One of those notebooks sat on the kitchen counter for a while, and when I wasn’t looking, here’s what happened:
C. left me a note, about four pages in to the notebook
And Chad left me a note, about halfway through the notebook
Neither was aware of what the other had done. But each left me a sweet “I love you” where I would find it later…buried in the pages of my notebook.
I love our little tradition. It wasn’t something we formally agreed to do, but a loving expression of our thoughts that developed naturally and is a big part of our relationship. The hard part is finding somewhere to store all the notes. I don’t want to throw any of them away!
Are you a note family? Will you join me in writing a note to one family member today?
That is so sweet. Amanda loves that sort of thing, and I don’t do it as often as I should, so thanks for the reminder.
Since Kyle is starting to read, I bet he would love to find something he could cypher left out in his room as well.
(I always forget that Chad was a “Brown.”)
Katrina,
Here’s a note:
I love you and yours. Have a special day Love Mom
ooo love this tradition!!! I might just have to start up something like this at our house!
Okay my father always left notes for us in our lunches or later in our cars. I have not done this with my own family so right now I am getting up and going to share some love notes with my family.
Thanks for sharing.
I’m a real kid literacy fanatic, so I LOVE the idea of including writing as an incidental activity in family life.
When my son was little and scribbled on my cedar table with felt pen for the second time(!), I wrote out a contract where he promised not to do it again, and had him sign it. It worked, and it’s fun seeing it in his scrapbook now he’s older.
Oh, and I think Calapidder Days is awesome, too.
Book Chookâs most recent post..Daring to be Different with Literacy
I love it!
What a sweet idea!!! I love your blog you have such sweet ideas!
We are a note family, too! My kids are forever writing little notes to me. I cherish every one of them. I keep them in a plastic storage container in the garage. I have one for each kid.