In twelve years of dedicated letter writing, this week marked the first of its kind. I delivered (in person) a Letter of Gratitude on the same day I was polishing/finalizing two others.

This productivity is unmatched over the course of this hobby-turned vocation, at least in my memory. With 290+ letters written and sent since November 2013, the average is about two dozen annually, or a letter written every few weeks. Of course, there are the occasional “gratitude spasms” where there might be several out the door in a single week, but also plenty of fallow periods, with maybe just a single letter written in a month, or just two or three in a few months.

What’s remarkable is that, so late in the game, after depleting most of a ream of stationery, after scouring my (admittedly voluminous) list of contacts/friends, that I still can find individuals (or couples) to whom I am compelled to share gratitude. The well will eventually run dry, but my hopes is that day remains far in the future.

The irony is that this unprecedented flurry took place during Thanksgiving Week. But to my mind, showing gratitude proactively and expressively should be a year-round pursuit. Date on the calendar be damned!