Traditions

Look at the little surprise I got in the mail—a handwritten thank-you note from Tiffany.

Growing up, my family didn’t have too many traditions. It’s hard when every family member has different hours and some aren’t able to make it home for the holidays or important milestones. That’s just how it is when you grow up in family of medical and military professionals. Our tradition was being nontraditional. As I got older and my dad retired from the Navy and my mom took on less hours, they tried to settle into a routine and create more traditions, but by that point I was already an annoying teenager who was more interested in talking on the phone and spending time with friends than traditions.

Now that I’m older, I find myself craving it. Maybe it’s because my immediate family is now smaller. Maybe it’s because I live far away. Maybe it’s because the little kid who wanted it so badly never left me. Whatever the reason, I find myself creating traditions for myself that I hope to pass down to my own kids one day.

One of those traditions is doing something special on my birthday. In my 20s I took trips. I changed it up for my 30s and decided to buy myself one piece of jewelry from Tiffany. Every April I visit the Fifth Avenue store and purchase my gift. This year I thought about steering away from tradition a little and going to another Tiffany location, but decided against it. This is what I did every year and I was going to stick to it.

The Fifth Avenue Storefront

So I made a day of it. I took the bus instead of driving and decided to spend a Saturday enjoying my favorite city the way it was meant to be enjoyed. I ate at one of my favorite places, bought my present, walked around MOMA and hiked up to Harlem to get my favorite cupcakes. It was the perfect day.

The home of my favorite cupcakes: Tonnie's Minis

A month after I made that Tiffany purchase, I received a handwritten thank you note from the salesperson who helped me. I remember the conversation I had with her—told her I’d been going there for years to buy my birthday present, talked about how she believed in the luck of four-leaf clovers and horseshoes and how I hoped the horseshoe pendant I was buying would bring me luck. It was a brief interaction, but it was enough for her to remember me and take the time to send me a simple thank you. Maybe it’s standard policy for them to send these things, but in all the years I’ve been going there, this was my first letter from Tiffany.

This year’s birthday present: A horseshoe pendant necklace—the special 75^th Anniversary version

This small token of appreciation had me thinking about how these little traditions and simple gestures can mean so much more than the elaborate gifts and the over-the-top displays. Not to say that those aren’t great, but there’s something to be said about the random card you get in the mail after a long day at work or short text message that says you’re special.

I need to make more of an effort to make these little things happen, to practice the art of writing a thank you note, to send a random card now and then, to do the small things that make me and others smile. These small acts of kindness should become my new everyday traditions.