There is some sort of unspoken rite of passage that occurs between the ages of 30 and 40. No one talks about it or really acknowledges it but from my observations (yes I can admit I’m over 40), it’s a universal truth. Life starts happening to and around you in a very real way.

If you’ve been fortunate enough to experience a trouble free existence up until your thirties, reality can hit you surprisingly hard. Tragedy can strike as easily as triumph. You can find you have a child on the way, a new puppy, a friend in need, a parent who is sick, or financial uncertainty, and it all happens at once. Through all of this you realize communication – sharing an honest emotion – is priceless.

Like most people who work I receive and send an unseemly number of emails and text messages at equally unseemly hours of the day, every day. They come in and go out at a feverish pace. Curiously I’ve also never written as many hand-written notes as I have over the past several years. I use to only write thank you notes. I now find that I write notes more often than not to acknowledge tragedies and triumphs simply because I care.

I find my hand-written notes require a down shift, a quiet moment to give the recipient a little piece of my heart and mind. Each note is truly a gift – written, stuffed, sealed and stamped with sincerity and sent along with the hope that the words will actually make a smile.

Jennifer Pool