A Yearly Practice

I committed myself to a yearly practice: sending a thank you card to a doctor.

Every year on October 29, there's a surgeon who gets a card and a picture of me doing something I wouldn't have been able to do without his work. I've sent him a picture of me on top of a 14,000 foot mountain and one at the finish line of a half marathon. I'm not sure which one I'm sending next, but I know I'll have some good options by this October.

And really, that's one of the reasons I started doing this. I knew that if I had to have at least ONE adventure every year, even if it was just to have a picture to send, that would push me to do more. I can't live a sedentary, uninteresting, unadventurous life…because I need a picture to mail. This pushes me to try new things and simply…do more enjoyable things.

I also started doing this so that I would always remember gratefulness. It is so easy for us to forget what things used to be like once we live in a different reality. I want to remember how hard it used to be, so that I recognize just how good it is now. I believe that sending him a card keeps me in touch with thankfulness.

But there's actually a bigger reason that I send him a picture and a card. It's to remind HIM of how important he has been. Just another day in the office for him wrought out a massive life change for me. I think most people probably receive from him what I did, which is a massive gift…but then they go about living into that gift. This man changed everything for me, and I want him to know that. And that's why a one time thank you isn't sufficient in my mind. Every year that I'm able to do something is STILL a gift from that surgeon, and I want him to know that another day in the office shifted my potential for joy.