Letters of Love to Strangers.

As ya'll have known, because I keep telling you (haha), I've been a bit down after the passing of my sidekick, Muffin.  We've had a bit of a rough year in my family... maybe more like a year-and-a-half to two years, and after a while you just get worn down. And yes, I'm focusing on the drama instead of all the triumphs and highlights we've seen, because we've had a lot of these, too!

Anyway, I joined this group that writes "love letters" to people, flooding a person with well wishes and good thoughts when they are at their lowest.  I mean, these people have seen so much more than me and are trying to come out the other side.  Cancer survivors, divorce, loss of loved ones, raising kids and juggling jobs. Someone who loves them requests for them to receive random letters of love from strangers.

I have only written to one guy - a fellow battling cancer who just touched my heart.  But this week I sat down and wrote to several of these people.  Courage was one word that came to mind as a single mother, recently divorced, cancer survivor, mom to twins, she's just trying to get life back together around her.  She's courageous. And she'll come out ok, she just needs someone to tell her that.

I wrote another - Light was my word for him - a preacher who as ALS and, as his daughter put it, has written love letters to his church for 30+ years in the form of sermons.  I was overcome with the realization that God is still using his life to touch others, hundreds, maybe thousands of others in the way of this group that sends random love letters.  How amazing is that?!

The interesting this is that as I write these letters to people who are down and out, it's only lifting my spirits to share with them how awesome and inspiring they are to me! It's a rush, a high, a great feeling to share with someone else how wonderful they are. And I've never met them.

If you are curious, you can check out the More Love Letters page and see the letter requests.  The cool thing is you don't have to wax poetic. You can sound a bit like a fool. It's ok. They don't know who you are and you'll never meet them. But whatever you tell them, they'll be grateful. I imagine this person on the other end just marveling at how many people sent a piece of themselves in this envelope just because they care about a stranger. I don't know, it's cool to me.

So there. There is your Tuesday inspiration from Whiskey Tango Hello. haha.  Now I'm off to dinner with a good friend and maybe on the way I'll think about what to write to you tomorrow. :)