A Month of Thanks (AMOT): Day 1

I have been notably absent.   I have a thousand excuses and none.  But I am vowing to make up for it this month.  This month, I will devote to expressing my thanks right here. Reflection can be very good for the soul.

Today I want to express my thankfulness to my wonderful Facebook posse.  And here is why...

About three weeks ago, Jman suddenly and inexplicably decided that he wanted to watch Elmo Happy Holidays.  Don't ask me where this came from, or why, or how....  just accept the reality that in early October we were watching Elmo Happy Holidays over and over and over again.

Not that you are overly interested in the finer plot points of Elmo Happy Holidays, but it is important at this juncture of the story that you know that Kelly Ripa plays 'Mail Carrier Kelly" and delivers many a holiday card to Elmo through the course of the video.  Jman discovered the wonders of... the mail.

So I tossed out this:
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Pia Prenevost

October 17 near Minneapolis

Do you want to make a little boy very happy? Send him a card in the mail.
Jman has just gotten the idea of mail and getting cards in the mail (thanks Elmo). So if you wanna make him a happy boy, send him a card. That is all

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I was flooded with responses from FB friends.   We are up to seven cards from four states from random friends from Facebook, some "real life" friends and some of the online variety.  When the first card arrived, this was his reaction:

To be specific, his response was, "Oh WOW.... Happy Kwanzaa!!!"

(Elmo encourages multiculturalism.  I'm good with that.  And this is an excellent example of echolalic scripting in practical action.)

With every card he has gotten, he has been more excited.  He loves it.  I have used it to teach him his first and last name, his address, and about writing cards and letters himself.  This is one of his first attempts:

How about THAT?

In a world in which there is so much anger and resentment and blame... where the social and political climate is so fractured and contentious (and Facebook definitely can highlight the hell out of that)... it is really wonderful when people can still do these simple little things to show friendship and caring with each other.  It means the world to Jman and the world to me.

Thank you.