The Confession

 

I need to confess. I carry post-it notes in my purse. I try to keep a pad handy for when the need arises, ever since I realized the power of post-its.

It started years ago. A sister I often visit in another state, would get visibly sad when I prepared to leave. I knew she didn’t want me (and often my family) to leave. She would start asking me questions to sidetrack me with conversation, or she would start gathering things for me to take—like drinks, snacks, sometimes even a sandwich.

            My sister told me once after I left, “I cried before you were even out of the driveway.”

            It broke my heart to know how my departure had caused such sadness.

One visit, knowing the dreaded goodbye was on the horizon, she left before us for a doctor’s appointment.

            It made my “exit” so much easier, but I wanted to do something to make her smile and to thank her for letting us stay.

            Now, me and my extended family have a history of doing little “fun” things for each other—like a fruitcake candle we passed around for years, and a doll head we have snuck into unexpected places—like a high shelf, a camper bathroom, and on top of a dryer.

            This visit I wanted to do something different. I saw a stack of post-it notes on a desk downstairs. I decided this trip I would surprise my sister by writing her a few encouraging post-it notes and hide them around the house—in places I knew she might eventually see them. Like her dresser drawer, her bathroom mirror, and her coat pocket.

            My kids noticed me sneaking around and wanted to join in the fun! And we did have fun hiding post-it notes around the house for my sister to find.

            She called me when she found a couple and told me how much she enjoyed it!

            That simple gesture started a tradition for us any time we stayed at my sister’s house. Any time we stayed, I would find an opportunity to write post-it notes and hide them around her house. Sometimes she had to work, and we had plenty of time. Sometimes I had to rush and hide a few while she used the restroom.

            It was fun for us, and I believe she had fun finding them! Often, she would start looking for them as soon as I left. This tradition made our “goodbyes” so much easier!

            A few years of doing this, she started hiding post-it notes in MY stuff before I left! She was very sneaky, and I would find post-its in my purse, or in my suitcase, or in a small cooler filled with drinks.

            It always made me smile, and sometimes her notes would bring tears to my eyes.

            I never intended to make this a tradition of love, but indeed, that is what it became.

            One day I was staying at my dad’s cousin, and as I was preparing to leave, she went to the bathroom.

            While she was “occupied”, I thought about how I left post-its for my sister but had never done that for anyone else. I don’t know why; I just never did. I just didn’t think of it.

            I decided to share the tradition of love and I happened to have post-it notes in my purse (I was visiting my sister next). I wrote a few quick notes thanking my cousin and telling her how much I loved her and found quick hiding places.

            As I was placing the last one in her can of coffee (we were both BIG coffee drinkers!) she came around the corner.

            I VISIBLY jumped!

            Caught “red handed” I mumbled something about “I was thinking about making some coffee for the road.”

            Good cover, right??

            She told me I was welcome to, but I told her I decided against it. “I need to get on the road.”

            The next time I was at my other sister’s house (I have two), I wondered why I had never left post-it notes for her… Although I hadn’t stayed at her house as often, I did still stay there.

            That time I wrote my other sister a couple of post-it notes and hid them in her apartment.

            She never said anything to me, but the next time I stayed with her I saw one of them still on her nightstand. It made me smile.

            I never knew how much love you could spread with a simple, post-it note. And I never knew how much joy it could give me as well, writing them, hiding them, and enjoying hearing that someone found them.

            And it did not require a postage stamp!

            I am now engaged, and almost every time I leave my fiancé, I try to leave him a few post-it notes. He has a wall in the kitchen where he started putting them, but some he leaves right where I left them.

Like the one on the coffee maker that reads, “When you make coffee, think of me!”

            Sometimes I do “Post-it Note Poetry”.

            “Roses are red, don’t be sad I’m gone, I’ll be back again, before too long!”

            Or the one I left on the lifted toilet seat, “Lifted for YOU because you are so awesome!” (He did not leave that one there!)

            I left post-it notes when we visited his mom in Florida last year, and I try to remember to leave them other places when I visit.

            Such a simple thing, I wish I would have started spreading the tradition of post-it love earlier! It doesn’t take fancy post-it pads or flowery prose. A square yellow post-it and an “I love you” will do the trick.

I encourage everyone to put some post-it notes in your purse or coat pocket. It is an easy and inexpensive way to encourage someone and let them know you love them and are thinking about them!

It turns out that post-it notes of encouragement are a LOT easier to hide than a fruitcake candle or a doll head!