Stacey thanks her partner in thank-you blogging

This week, I’ll admit, while I’ve been up in Erie, I’ve been getting a tad lazy and thinking, “Aw, it’d be nice to skip writing a thank you note today.” I’m on vacation; I’ve been staying up late, sleeping in, and just acting generally careless. Consequently, writing thank yous hasn’t seemed so appealing.

But then I think of Karin, on vacation in Nepal and I imagine her scrawling notes into some mountain climbing manual with the burnt edge of a stick and I feel ashamed to be so lazy. Seriously, Karin is a die-hard thanker. I mean, I’m here in Erie PA and I find it hard to keep the routine of posting and she can do it while climbing the world’s tallest mountain? Uh, that’s kind of pathetic on my part. But really, if you’ve been reading this blog at all, you probably don’t think that’s so crazy. Because while I thank the makers of Cheez Balls Karin thanks her marathon running shoes. While I can be sloth-like and loafing, Karin is determined and persistent. Truly, we are opposite creatures in so many ways (but yet bonded together in friendship by things like a shared love for efficient hair removal and F. Scott Fitzgerald novels…you know, the important stuff).

When we started this blog almost 9 months ago we figured it was good that we were so opposite. I’m a mom, she’s a single gal. I’m blonde, she’s brunette. But we never really took into account that we’d learn so much from one another’s differences. Yet now, with only about three months to go on our year-long thanking goal, I’m realizing just seeing my thank yous so close to hers on a daily basis has definitely enhanced me as a person because it forces me to compare myself (and life) with hers.

So maybe it’s as little a change as not reaching into the chip bag to devour that last handful of salt and vinegars after reading a post about her running 21 miles. Or it could be something as simple as me deciding to shave my legs and dress myself in something other than sweatpants after reading about an extra glamorous gala or fashion shoot she attended. Whatever the small change, this blog has been a great experience even just to look at someone’s life outside my own and compare mine too– something for which I’m very grateful (the main point of this blog!).