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'Tis the season for spreading good cheer and good karma gods by thanking the people who've made our lives better, happier, easier, and smarter.
A big thank you goes to the BlogHer community. You, and you, and you, and also all of you. Thank you. There are too many of you for me to put on a five thank yous list.
There lies the problem, saying thank you is hard because once you start, it's really hard to stop.
Because of all of the thinking I've been doing about this post in particular and karma in general, I've sent a bunch of private thank you notes. I'll be sending some more private thank you notes and emails in the weeks ahead. I'll be publicly thanking people all month long, on Twitter, (using #blogherkarma.)
In the meantime, here are the five thank yous that I decided I really wanted to blog. I chose these thank yous because the goal is to spread good karma, or thank people for the good karma they send out into the world. These thank yous, they're about the good karma. The invisible kind that most people don't stop to think about sending.
1) The librarians at the Glenview Library, the young one who has a fondness for YA fiction, the one who's my age and speaks with an accent and loves to chat up RJ, and the other one that's my age who will talk about anything and everything - they make our library a fun place to visit, and not just for the books. We went to a library in Gainesville, FL for six years and we didn't have many good, interesting, or fun conversations with our librarians. They checked out our books, commented on the large numbers of holds we had to pick up, and out the door we went. In Glenview, it's something else entirely. Something better, happier, friendlier and more welcoming because these women take the time to make it so.
2) The baristas at Starbucks #2239 who not only know our drinks and which days we come in for our Quad Grande NonFat Caramel Macchiatos, they are truly concerned when one of us comes in without the other or we miss a day. Knowing a regular customer's order is a normal thing for any Starbucks but really caring about the customer (and her family) is something else entirely. 8:45am on a Monday morning is a busy time for these baristas, but they still stop and ask if everything's ok when we just order two drinks instead of three. They'll still take the time to commiserate with us as winter approaches, because they know we're from Florida and -3F is not our idea of a good time. They just laugh when TW tries to set one of them up with our nice friend, Lara. They provide more than good customer service, and I appreciate that.
3) My favorite LYSOs, @haldechick and @idyllicchick from Hanks Yarn & Fiber are exactly the kind of local store owners I would want to be if I ever grew up to own a store of any kind. They're my friends and I am thankful for that friendship but it's more than that. It's the way they treat their customers and everyone in the community who happens to bump into them, (virtual and in real life communities.) They really care about the people they meet, and not just in terms of what it means to their business. The smile they give when you walk into their shop and they kindness they put into their tweets, Facebook comments, and blog comments is real kindness - not just a business practice.
4) Joy Des Jardins runs the BlogHer.com Help Desk and manages the BlogHer.com Blog List queue. It's a busy, tiring, invisible job and most of the community doesn't see the work that Joy does behind the scenes. I'm not here thanking her for doing her job, though I do appreciate it, I'm thanking her for the way she does her job. Always with a smile. Always with care, consideration, and respect for the members of the community that she's working for. There isn't a day that goes by that Joy doesn't send me an email that leaves me shaking my head, she's always so upbeat and positive. She cares so much for this community and the time and effort she puts into the job is inspirational.
5) Betty Ginny, the coupon/sample lady at the Great
