Today we are traveling home from Fort Worth, Texas. Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH)’s nephew got married in a beautiful ceremony at the Hyder House in Fort Worth. I will have photos and stories to share in an upcoming post(s) about the Hyder House and a tour of a Fort Worth area quilt shop. I got to go fabric shopping with three of my awesome quilter sister-in-laws – 2 from NY and 1 from Texas!
TTQH and I are sitting in PDX (Portland airport) awaiting our plane to take us back to Central Oregon and I happened to check my e-mail. I discovered a recent e-mail from an Etsy customer that made my heart very warm and happy.
I made my tierneycreates Etsy shop inactive in late 2016, nearly 3 years after opening it in December 2013. I miss the interactions with customers but it was too much to keep up with as I work full time (and I would be very hungry if I tried to live off my Etsy shop). So I was very surprised when I had an e-mail on an Etsy Conversation (how Etsy customers communicate with Etsy sellers) from a sale in January 2015!
I used to collect special edition Barbies and the vintage ones I occasionally sold on Etsy. The sale that the customer was contacting me about occurred nearly a year and a half later ago and was for this Little Debbie Barbie:
Here is what the customer said in her Etsy Conversation:
This is a long overdue thank you – the doll was beautiful and the woman who received it loved it. Her husband, who had passed away drove for Little Debbie and so this was a wonderful keepsake. Thanks again!
What a fantastic surprise – I have a huge smile on my face knowing that something that no longer brought me joy was able to bring someone else some major joy!
This was a great lesson that:Β It is NEVER TOO LATE to say THANK YOU!
Feature photo credit: LittleDebbie.com
Isn’t it wonderful to hear from people that way? And doesn’t it always make you think, who should *I* be thanking. Dear Mr. Salzer, my high school history teacher. I really need to find him…
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I found him! I found him!!! Now I need to figure out what to say… π
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Oh my goodness! You totally have to do a post on this! That is fantastic. Hey whatever you say in regards to thank you will be meaningful to him I bet!
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He was easy to find. He’s a county “supervisor” or whatever the position is there on the county board. I’ll guess he’s in his early 70s. Was a teacher and coach for 30 years, I think. Anyway, the county has email addresses for each of the board members, so that was easy, too. If he is anywhere near as pleased to get my note as I was to send it, it will be doubly worth it. Thanks for the small push in a direction I’ve long wanted to take. π
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That would be awesome, imagine what it would mean to him! I mean you don’t go into teaching to get rich and if you are a great teacher then you are basically a higher life form π
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This is what I sent to him:
Dear Mr. Salzer,
This is a long overdue thank you. Thank you for your many years teaching, coaching, and serving the people of your community. Thank you, especially, for the school year you taught me.
I don’t have a lot of well-defined memories from my school years. In truth, I don’t have many of my time in your classroom, either. What I do remember is that you treated us with respect and affection and good humor. I remember how you loved to tell the stories of our U.S. history. I remember walking into your class each day gladly, and walking out better than I went in.
I didn’t study much history in college. I majored in business, later becoming an investment manager and also teaching finance at NIU and University of Iowa. Now I am a quilter, and one of the aspects of quilting I find fascinating is the history. The cotton industry, of course, changed the shape of our nation, industrially, economically, and politically. The stories in each quilt reflect that, even if the maker doesn’t realize it. Perhaps “history” was wasted on me when I was young. Now I have more context to understand it.
Thank you again, for all you did and continue to do.
Best regards and much affection and respect,
Melanie McNeil
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This is highly awesome! What a detailed, thoughtful and well crafted ” thank you”! And thank you for sharing!!!
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Wow, great ending to a wonderful weekend and story. Now my dear friend DJ, Debbie Jo from Staten Island, would have LOVED that as a memoir. She lives in California now and we made an instant connection 21 years ago. The rest is history. I am happy you made someone else very happy.
With Joy,
Kathy
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Thanks so much Kathy, I so appreciate your comment. Those instant connections are pretty special π
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An excellent point!
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Thanksπ
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Acts of kindness–even a simple thank you-should never be underestimated! This was a great post! This was a great post!
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Thank you π
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Absolutely!!! AMEN!
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