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Love Notes

I recently saw a Facebook post that was a fun idea for kids for Valentine’s Day.  Starting in early February, tape a different colored paper heart to your child’s bedroom door every day.  On each heart, write something you love about your child.  By Valentine’s Day on February 14^th, your child will have a door full of hearts and of love.

Obviously, this same idea could be adapted for a spouse, a sibling, a grandparent, a boyfriend/girlfriend, a friend, a roommate, or whomever you want to feel loved.  You can’t underestimate what that kind of effort does for another’s soul.

Any totally selfless act with the goal and purpose of simply making another person feel special is a wonderful thing.  And, this kind of endeavor doesn’t have to be saved just for the holidays.

When my elderly parents were still able to live in their home, I would go over several times a week to help them. On Saturdays, my husband and I would shop for their groceries then deliver them to their house and do some cooking and cleaning for the week. One Saturday, I took heart-shaped Post-it notes and wrote “I love you mom” and hid the notes all over their house in places I thought she would find them…inside her make up drawer, inside her purse, on her night stand, in her closet, inside her bag of embroidery work, in the refrigerator, under the seat of her rollator walker, on her daily calendar, in her jewelry box, under her pill box, next to the coffee pot…

The next time I went to their house, Mom had a stack of the Post-it notes in front of her at her spot at the kitchen table. With shining eyes, she said, “I had so much fun finding these this week.” I laughed and said, “I had a lot of fun hiding them for you to find!” After she died and I was cleaning out her closet, I found one of the notes that she hadn’t found inside her house slipper. It reminded me of how we had laughed together the day she had her stack of found love notes at the table.

I have a loving and rather mischievous son who as a small boy began leaving sweet love notes on my pillow for me to find at night.   He would draw a heart and write “I love you mama” inside the lines.  It would warm my heart to find those notes right before I went to sleep.

As he grew into a young teenager, those notes became rubber snakes or insects left under my pillow or little alligators in my shower.  To this day, I hate having alligators in my shower!

Sometimes I would open the refrigerator or the microwave and find a cluster of rubber frogs.  One morning, a rubber lizard was on my coffee pot.  I could only imagine the fun my son had plotting ways to make his mama scream. 

One memorable day when he was in high school, I went outside to get into my car and found the interior of it covered in rubber lobsters…on my seat, on the steering wheel, in the back window, in the center section, seat belted in the passenger seat, in the glove box…

Once my startled screaming stopped, I would smile and know that he was just showing his love in a teenage boy kind of way.

After he left for college, I didn’t scream as often, but I sure did miss those fun moments that he brought to my life.  One day, I opened the mailbox and found a padded envelope he had sent from his college in another state.  Yep, you guessed it…along with a note thanking me for all I did for him, was a cluster of rubber monsters to let me know the fun wasn’t over yet!

Not everyone shows their love with rubber critters.  My husband knows that I have a knack for getting knots in my jewelry.  Recently, he took the knots out of my favorite necklace without my knowledge and left it beside my sink in the shape of a heart.  Not only did it make me happy that I could wear my necklace again, but he made me feel special too!

Our efforts to make other people feel special don’t have to cost money.  They can be a “hello and how are you today” to a neighbor or a co-worker,  a text letting a family member or friend know you are thinking of them, or a phone call telling someone you just needed to hear their voice.

The good connections we have with others are often what make a positive difference in our days…and in theirs.  So, who makes you feel special and what are you going to do to make someone else feel special this week?