thank you. no, thank you

about a month and a half ago, jack's school held their annual golf tournament/fund raiser. this thing is a big pain in the patoot to organize, i'm sure. it usually falls on the shoulders of one or two parents/teachers to coordinate, advertise, rally sponsors and teams, etc., etc. (incidentally, since we both work full time, we are not able to help with the "hard work." we typically sponsor a team and then show up to golf. tee hee. i said 'we golf.' that's funny...)

it as billed as a fund raiser, and therefore one would assume that the golfers would focus on the fun of the event and the benefit to the school. of course, since we live in a population chock full of golf-playing retirees, there tend to be alot of teams who focus on the quality of the course, their position in the line-up, the amount (and type) of refreshments. (these are the teams that make me edgy on the course, because heaven forbid they get behind me!)

as we were leaving the event, i took 35 seconds to stop and thank the mother who had put it ALL together. i think i said something as simple as, "thank you so much for all of your time and effort putting this tournament together."

this morning, as i dropped jack off at school, she approached me, and said that she had been wanting to thank me for the kind words that day. she said it was the nicest thing anyone said to her that day.

wow.

i can't describe how warm it made me feel to know that i really connected with this person (a woman whom i barely know.) that my simple words meant so much to her when she needed to hear them. thank you to my parents and grandparents and all of the adults in my life who instilled in me the importance of "thank-yous" and kind words.

that simple gift (or rather, re-gift, perhaps) i received this morning has really set the tone for my holiday season. i hope you might enjoy similar small moments throughout your season.