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# With My Deepest Thanks
- URL: https://dianaludwick.com/with-my-deepest-thanks/
- Published: 2026-01-06T13:21:33.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T20:12:57.000Z
- Description: Appreciation for the act of appreciating. A reflection on thank you cards. Poem 006 in a series of 365 poems written in 2026 by Diana Ludwick.
- Author: Diana Ludwick
- Tags: 2026 Poetry Challenge, Poems, #Migrated-1792872215677, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-10-24 20:03

The first week of each year  
Beckons an annual ritual of gratitude.  
  
With gathered stationery paraphernalia  
I sit down at the dining table  
And pen letters of recognition to  
Each giver of gifts, hospitality and love.  
  
A silent ceremony transpires  
In sifting through piles of hoarded blank cards   
In matching inside greetings to exterior envelope  
In pairing colored paper to their destined recipient.  
  
The design of each note  
Harkens me back to  
Standing in an aisle over a row of clear-front boxes  
Or at a boutique’s display island,  
Weighing the myriad options  
\-- Formal, fruity, joyful or reverent --  
Pondering which card style best encapsulates  
My thanks, my wit, my heart.  
  
And now here at my perch,  
With my flock of chosen ones  
I begin to write  
Dear Auntie; Dear Dad.  
  
Wet ink bleeds into matte cardstock.  
  
Swirls and lines become  
My offering of gratitude  
As I remember the material culture   
The sacred items  
That my loved ones had too  
Stood in an aisle  
Or over a kitchen island  
Deliberating  
Discerning  
Aligning to me  
Procuring or producing on my behalf.  
  
For all the angst and iterations  
Last fall that I  
Had exerted in my own gift search  
— For white elephant exchanges   
For parental appreciation  
For benevolent hosts  
For dearest progeny —   
  
Here I find peace.  
  
When I capture my appreciation  
The words flow swiftly  
With truth and conviction  
With a tear here, a wide grin there  
As I recall the splendor of my holidays.  
  
Basked in memories,   
I warm from the embrace of invisible arms.  
  
I ease each folded card  
Into their appointed envelope  
Scrawl atop it the intended party  
And their global coordinates.  
  
I slide the moistener  
Across the V of each flap  
Pressing to fuse the two layers  
Down and out, thrice,  
My habitual assurity of closure.  
  
Once postage stamp and return address and festive seal  
Adorn each letter,  
I cannot resist the urge to begin their transit.  
  
The mailbox will not do;  
I drive to the regional depot  
Slide the heavy stack  
Into the bowels of   
The winter-chilled metal  
Of the Postal blue First Class Mailbox.  
  
May they arrive promptly;  
Uncreased,  
Carrying with them the spirit of our connection  
And with my deepest thanks.