On Anticipation, Patience & Why It's OK to Dream Small - The Sunday Savoring No. 066

My table was covered with all the creative pieces for weeks.

Envelopes, cards, recipes, playlists printed on paper, journal prompts, little notes I’d rewritten four times because the wording wasn’t right. Stacks of things sorted into other stacks of things. A system that made complete sense to me and would have made no sense to anyone else.

I’ve created things my whole life. Homes, spaces, rooms that feel like somewhere you want to cozy into and never leave. That kind of creativity has a feedback loop built in. You stand in it. You see it. You know immediately whether it worked.

This was different. This was making something and then putting it in a box and handing it to a stranger at the post office and driving home to a clean table.

And waiting.

An empty table, full of vulnerability.

I was so excited with what I had created. Like a care package for my older boys when they were in college all the way across the country. Each detail meant to provide comfort, joy and maybe a little laughter.

You create it, send it and hope it makes them feel loved and special.

That’s what each of the envelopes were supposed to provide every woman who received them. But would they?

As I stared at my now empty table I was excited. And nervous. I no longer had control over it. It was now out there. In the world. Waiting to be judged. Would it mean what I wanted it to mean? Would they love it? Would they wonder what the hell it was?

I waited for those answers. Snail mail is not fast. That is part of the point but the waiting was torture.

I don’t know what I expected. I hoped for a hail storm of amazement. What I got was a slow trickle. The first response, days later, made me cry.

A text with a photo. The words, “I have goosebumps.”

Then a couple more days passed with nothing. And I started to worry. What if women just don’t get it? What if snail mail isn’t really going to be a thing. What if it just wasn’t good?

And then when I was starting to feel like maybe all this creativity and love that brought me so much joy just wasn’t going to hit the mark, the trickle became a downpour. One after another the texts, emails and instagram shares started to happen.

They were coming in from everywhere. Women I’ve never met, in places I’ve never been, holding something I made at my dining room table. Photographing it in their kitchens, on their porches, next to their morning coffee. Telling me what it felt like to open it. Telling me how wonderful it was, how intentional it felt, how it made them feel.

Here is what I know about making things and putting them in the world. You never fully know what they are until someone else holds them. Until then they’re just yours. An idea of what they could be, your hope for what they might do. The moment they leave your hands is the moment they become real. A lot like raising kids.

My goal for the first month was to get 50 new subscribers. So far we have 62 and we are only two weeks in. I am overjoyed and humbled that something I love, something that feels like home to me, could make other women feel the same.

I have no idea if this snail mail idea will take off like I hope. I dream big. I want to be in thousands of women’s mailboxes each month, sharing my little care packages of joy and love. But I do know this. I’m learning to go slow. Be grateful for the process.

If I created this for 62 women for the rest of my life, I would love waking up every day and heading to my dining room table and creating each of those envelopes. And that is a gift to myself that took me 55 years to open.

Today is the last day to subscribe for June's mailing. It drops in the mail on May 23rd. If you'd like an envelope of your own in June, today's the day. After tonight, the next one won't arrive until July.

This Dog
Otis and I took a beach walk this week and this guy, who clearly just stepped right out of a Dr. Seuss book, was having the time of his life. Isn’t he amazing?

These Garden Cages
JJ built cages around all of my garden boxes. Well, he’s in the process. Those two on the left aren’t complete which is why I have the plants covered. Last year we battled and lost to the squirrels and rats. This year we created armor. I’ll let you know how this works out.

This Clothing
I stumbled onto this site thanks to an IG ad and now I’m going to be broke for all of eternity.

That’s all for this week friends. Until next Sunday, wishing you all a week worth savoring.