Disappointment

I don't like dealing with disappointment. I think everyone can say he doesn't like disappointment, but some deal with it better than others. I'm one of those others. Today's disappointment is with our wedding thank you cards.

Our friends and family have been incredibly generous to us. The gifts from our wedding have been abundant and overflowing.

My belief with gifts is that you shouldn't use them until you have properly thanked the giver. I define proper here as "send them a hand-written thank you note." As a result, we have stacks of gifts unused because we haven't written the thank you card yet.

One can, at this point, imagine the cramps one might get from writing thank you notes for many gifts. The process takes time. Each card should be personalized, say something to the giver that's meaningful.

Did I mention Kris hates writing thank you cards?

So, we divided this task up into two parts: I would write the thank you cards, stuff the card into an envelope, put a stamp and return address label on the envelope and address the card to the recipient. In return, Kris would sign the card (after my "Kitt and"), find the recipient's address for the card, write said address on the card and mail it.

Easy enough.

Three weeks ago I handed Kris a stack of 20 thank you cards to mail out.
I received all but 2 of them back this morning. All but 2.

Here I thought all these cards had gone out. I could freely use the gifts. I could talk to my friends without worrying if they thought I was a slacker (because obviously I was not, I had my thank you cards out within days of returning from the honeymoon!).

I was mistaken.

Ignorance may be bliss, but disappointment hurts.