A friend recently sent me an E mail with lovely photos of roses and the sentiment for each photo was a different kind of loving expression and I am beseeched to send it on to other friends, to spread the love, so to speak. I can’t do this. I am not demonstrative in this way. Also, if you care about people, you don’t need to E mail generic love. I also, for many years, preferred to make my own occasion cards, to draw something, make up a verse (usually raucous) rather than buy a canned sentiment from Hallmark. When I had no time for artistry, I would go to an alternative book store and buy really witty, sophisticated cards. So you can see I am not cut out for this kind of missive.

Yet I appreciate that my friend thought of me in this way. However, the subject line said something like, if you don’t send this on, it indicates what kind of person you are. So I replied that my friends, drawn mostly from the New York publishing world, would be the last people who could relate to something like this. My childhood friends, don’t need these – we are in touch all the time. If my mom were alive, I wouldn’t send it to her. Our closeness came from another place, not at all generic.

Good fortune is supposed to come to you if you send this on. There is always a time frame or you are toast or at the very least, miss out. Also you have to send it back to the person who sent it. I did that, along with my explanation. And I hope this gets him to put my E mail in a category headed “don’t send round robin E mails to this group”.. Well, as I have said in other posts, I don’t clip coupons either. I don’t believe good fortune comes from such communications, but from leading a good life and being effective. But I didn’t specifically ask for this. I have been a really stand-up friend to this person. That should tell him “what kind of person” I am.

xx, Teal