Author Archives: Reed Sandridge

Day 14: Kelly

Posted on January 14, 2015 | Leave a comment
Aughnanure Castle, County Galway, Ireland

Aughnanure Castle, County Galway, Ireland. Kelly did not buy a real castle unfortunately.

“A man’s house is his castle.” – James Otis

My friend Kelly closes on her first home today. She’s been saving for this day for a long time. I dug up this postcard of a castle I visited in Galway, Ireland and thought I’d send it to her – she’s Irish!

Kelly Day 14

Kelly,

Congratulations on buying your first “castle”! I know that you’ve been looking forward to this day for a long time and I am very happy for you. I’m looking forward to seeing it in person.

Now get back to unpacking!

Reed

I got a bit carried away with stamps!

I got a bit carried away with stamps!

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Day 13: Ken

Posted on January 13, 2015 | Leave a comment


I met today’s recipient five years ago today. A proud and stalwart salesman of the Street Sense newspaper in DC, I’ve stayed in touch with him ever since meeting him through my Year of Giving project. You can read about the day we met and see a photo of Ken in action selling the paper here.

Ken Day 13

 

Ken,

Today marks five years since we met at the Dupont Circle metro stop at the corner of 20th and Q. Your passion and enthusiasm for Street Sense, your customers and soccer all inspire me to be passionate about things in my own life. I know you’ve experienced great challenges in your life, but you face them with strength and optimism and I admire that. I know your birthday is this Saturday – let’s go for lunch one day this week or next week to celebrate.

Your friend,

Reed

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Day 12: Lieu

Posted on January 12, 2015 | Leave a comment

Lieu-2Good morning! If you’re waking up in the Northeast it’s probably a bit nasty outside. We’ve got some icy conditions here in DC. Be careful.

Today’s letter is to a wonderful woman who does some work for me from time to time. Originally from Vietnam, she’s lived in the Washington area for almost 40 years. She is tiny, probably about 5 feet tall, but her heart is enormous. She’s always doing small acts of kindness – like last week she brought me the most delicious blueberry muffins and some oranges along with a handwritten note. Thank you Lieu!

Lieu-3

Lieu,

Thank you so much for the delicious blueberry muffins and clementine oranges – you are so thoughtful. Please know how much I appreciate you and the kind, cheerful manner in which you always carry yourself. I’m always happier after seeing you or speaking with you on the phone.

With much gratitude,

Reed

Lieu

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Sunday Notes

Posted on January 11, 2015 | 1 comment
Me mailing the letter to Steve Carell from his hometown of Newton, MA. It was about 0 degrees when I snapped this photo.

Me mailing the letter to Steve Carell from his hometown of Newton, MA. It was about 0 degrees when I snapped this photo.

Good morning! Every Sunday I will either share a letter written by someone else – maybe a famous letter or perhaps a letter from my shoebox full of saved letters – or I’ll update you on the Year of Letters; responses that I have received and other tidbits that might not weave their way into the daily posts. Think of it like a day that you can kind of get a broader view on the project.

It’s been almost two weeks since I started the project and already I feel that I have learned some things. Here are 5 lessons learned so far:

  1. This takes a lot of time. Not so much writing the letters, but managing the blog, getting the photographs of the letters, etc.
  2. I have terrible handwriting. Now this isn’t really anything new to me, but none the less it saddens me to see my inconsistent scribbles in the photographic images of my letters. I sure hope it gets better through this project.
  3. Despite that people rarely send them, everyone loves to receive handwritten letters.
  4. Either I did a terrible job promoting my writing session yesterday here in DC or people don’t like to meet up to write letters – which is quite possible.
  5. My hands feel very arthritic and I worry about the remaining 354 days.

So far I’ve heard back from…

Whole Foods (Day 3) tweeted at me that they were happy that I shared the story of their employee who went the extra mile for our family over Thanksgiving.
A.R. and Aimee (Day 5) wrote me and said that I’ll be receiving a letter in the mail from them.
The Kimpton Group (Day 6) replied to me via Twitter – my request looks promising!Screen Shot 2015-01-10 at 11.42.16 PM
Several people via email, Facebook and Twitter who have been extremely supportive of this project and one person even sent me some of their favorite stationery for me to use. THANK YOU Nicole!

I’ll be back tomorrow morning, sharing another letter.

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Day 10: Aunt Sue

Posted on January 10, 2015 | Leave a comment
Teaism, Dupont Circle

Teaism, Dupont Circle

This morning I did some letter-writing over at Teaism in Dupont – I shared this on social media and invited folks to come out and write some letters with me. None of you showed up, but that’s ok. I wrote some letters over a delicious pot of assam tea. If you want to join me on a future date, stay tuned to the Meet Ups section of the blog.

Today’s letter is for my Aunt Sue. She turns 81 on Wednesday.

She is one of five siblings my mother had. Originally from Richlands, VA, she now lives in an assisted living residence in Tennessee. Even though she has her own apartment there, it’s sad as she just doesn’t have the freedom she used to have. She can’t drive, so spontaneous trips to visit friends and family or even just quick jaunts to the grocery store are now distant memories.

day 10 aunt sueI love to see her, although she’s different now. After losing her husband, her only son, two siblings (one of them my mother), her best friend and many others, the quick wit and vibrance the former head of operating room nurse once had is now gone. Her health has diminished as well. “Don’t ever get old,” she tells me every time we speak. “Don’t do it.” She has this birthday card on her fridge that says something like, “The more you bitch and complain about getting old, the longer you live.” She smiles and says, “Isn’t that the truth” every time she reads it.

I love her very much and hope that she is smiling this Wednesday.

 

 

day 10 aunt sue-2

Dear Aunt Sue,

My aunt loves Akitas.

My aunt loved Akitas.

Happy birthday! I went out looking for a birthday card for you – but I got to be honest, there was nothing there that I thought you’d like as much as this card with the drawing of this gorgeous Akita. I love you very much and will call you on your birthday!

Love,
Y.K.W.

I sign my letters to my aunt “Y.K.W.” (You Know Who). She would always sign her letters to me that way, so I’ve started signing my letters to her in the same manner.

 

 

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