So what do you buy the man who has everything? At 50 years old, people start to evaluate what they have and start to "give" things away. This is probably why I received a BEAUTIFUL set of "Twelve Days of Christmas" drinking glasses. They're nice. REAL nice.
Long story short, I didn't know what to do for dad.
Then I got to thinking. About our family, friends, acquaintances that dad has impacted, etc. I figured I would compile a list of the top 75 people that have shared a large part of our lives. 75 people is a lot of people. I decided I would ask these 75 people to write a letter to dad about their fondest memory of him.
What I did was send a letter with one of my many fond memories of dad and a request for a response. Consider this my first ever DIY project...
What you need:
- Your own letter with the reason for writing and a story of your own
- Tell them what your hopes are with this!! I wanted to get at least 50 letters back - one for each year of his life...
- 3 sheets of blank paper so they have the required materials (I have a pen more often than I have spare paper!)
- A return envelope with a stamp and mailing address on it
Package all of these in your own envelope to be sent to your friends and family.
- Compile the letters as you receive them back (if they didn't come back in the envelopes I sent to them, I put them in a new one
- DO NOT OPEN THESE LETTERS... they're not for you.. :)
- Once you have received them all, stack them up and wrap a ribbon around them with yours (in the return envelope) on top.
- The one I gave to dad had only one difference: I signed the bottom with a little note from me. That, you don't get to see.
Simple! There is a slight cost associated with this but it was worth every second when Dad got to read the letters.
I have my note to dad below... it's personal but it's also a good story and gives you an idea of what type of letter you can send!
Surprise
for Dad!!
I hope this year has provided you with many
fantastic memories so far… I know it has
for my family! I don’t want to write a
novel so I will get straight to the purpose of this here letter. Please make time for this – it’s a very special
gift for my dad.
January 24 will mark the 50th
anniversary of my dad’s birth... He’s
probably going to kill me for advertising this.
I suppose that’s why he decided to have twins - there’ll still be one
left. I live on the edge: 50 years old!!
I’ve learned over time that dad wears a variety
of hypothetical “shirts” (he only wears one real hat on a regular basis): Husband
(of 28 years), Father (of 25+ years), Son (of nearly 50 years… go figure)
Brother (of nearly 50 years, weird!), Uncle (to 18 nieces and nephews), Cousin,
Employee, Boss, Neighbor, Friend, and soon to be (thanks to the other twin J… for clarity’s sake)
Grandpa. That’s crazy to think about… So many people whose lives he’s been a part of.
For his 50th birthday, I’m going to do a SURPRISE gift for him. I should repeat that.
It’s a SURPRISE!!
Please
don’t let him know I’ve reached out to you – that’s
part of the surprise. I have included in
this packet: this note (but you already knew that), three sheets of blank paper, one stamped envelope, and an invisible
hug of “thanks” for your participation.
What I’m asking is that you take a few minutes out of your busy life to
write a note to dad and mail it back to me (by January 1st). It
can be anything; a memory, story, or simply what he means to you…
On his birthday, he will receive 50 envelopes from his closest friends
and family with reflections of his interactions with you. To get you started, here’s a great memory of
mine.
Dad and I made a trip to Colorado to move Aunt Jan (shout out to Aunt Jan!) into her new
home. I drove the CRV and he drove the
Yukon & trailer. We decided it would
be best for us to drive straight through so we didn’t end up spending too many
days on the road (insert “light at the end of the tunnel” cliché here).
At 4am, I hopped in the little CRV and followed dad for a whopping 23
hours. Sounds like a blast, eh? It was.
Especially when he had to stop at a weigh station in traffic and I had
to keep driving. My geographical skills
are questionable.
We called
each other back and forth every 40 minutes just to chat and talk about things
that didn’t matter. I can’t even
remember most of our conversations… Just silly things. A lot of “remember that
time when [Carl] did something stupid??”
(Just kidding, Carl. Shout out to
Carl! J) Or “Can you believe Melissa is dating
that tall guy still? What was his name
again?” (Just kidding, Knott’s! J)
We talked about memories. A lot
about you. Yes you, there - reading this
fancy sheet of paper.
We managed to stop at every Denny’s from Minnesota to Colorado (all 5
of them) for something more nutritional than fast food. Though I think “nutritional” is an arguable
term. We ordered about 50% of the menu
offerings by the end of the trip… We set
goals. I would be impressed if I were
you.
We made it there just before 3am, rented cheap motel rooms, and slept
for 4 hours. We got up early the next
day to unpack and got a call from Great Grandma and Grandpa Draman (shout out to Grammy and Grampy): “Let’s
go to Denny’s for breakfast!”
yippee… a trend. That made 6 Denny’s locations and a plethora
of gas station food in a period of 48 hours.
Fat kids say what??
By 6pm, we were back on the road with a Yukon and an empty
trailer. We took our time and stopped at
12 gas stations (had to find memorabilia) and 3 “scenic routes”. This was also my first experience sleeping at
a truck stop. Pleasant memories.
We got home and 24 hours later I was on a plane back to Wisconsin, bragging
to strangers about how neat my dad is.
It wasn’t about the drive or the destination; it was about spending
time with dad, reminiscing. We hadn’t
really spent time quite like that since I moved away. To this day, we still talk about the fun we
had on that trip...
I appreciate you taking the time to do
this, it means a lot to me.
I know it will mean the world to Dad!!
Have a fantastic weekend!!
Xoxo,
Becca
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