When you live with an incurable, painful & disabling disease, you have an entirely different perspective on life.

I was always a giver. Giver of time, giver of things, giver of love, I like giving. But since I got sick, I’ve upped my giving game beyond what I thought could be possible. To the point we had to pull in the reigns & set a budget. Oops

One of my favorite things to send & receive is smile mail. It’s sending something in the mail that will make the person receiving it smile. It can be as simple as a card.

I send a lot of comfort items to friends who are not well. Fuzzy socks, slippers, funny sayings, jewelry, all kinds of things. The key to good smile mail is that it’s personal to the person receiving it. So I pay attention when talking to people or seeing what they’ve posted on social media.

I try to send things that’ll spark a smile, memory, they’re funny bone, etc… Sometimes I add my name sometimes I leave it as an anonymous gift. Most people just assume it’s me at this point.

Like I stated, I love receiving & sending smile mail. But even if I never received any, I’d still be happy with just sending. That’s the whole point, making someone else smile. Smile mail has led me to some fun & interesting shenanigans!

It’s a way bigger deal then you’d think to receive something fun, when you’re in a funk. It lets you know that someone, somewhere was thinking about you & they think enough of you to take the time to send you a surprise. A spark in the darkness.

I was talking to a friend about filling those dreadful pill cases and everyday having to take so much medicine. I decided to send her a happy pill case. I filled each day with a positive quote, joke, song lyric, or whatever else I could think of, added a piece of candy to each day and mailed it to her. Each day when she took her regular meds she could open a day in the smile pill case. We both enjoyed it so much that we kept filling it and sending it back and forth. We’ve been doing this for years now. Such a blessing & something fun to look forward to!

Another time I had surgery on Christmas Eve. It was a rough surgery and I wasn’t tolerating things well. I received a package in the mail. When I opened it I laughed so hard. It hurt like hell but was so worth it! It was a pair of huge underwear all bedazzled and looking hilarious! The message said, “We are always told to, “put on your big girl panties”, when things are tough….” Basically when you receive them you add more bling to them and send them off to someone else who may need some laughter. Then they do the same & it continues. They are the “Traveling Big Girl Panties”! There are now dozens of pairs circling the world. Amazing how something so silly and small can bring so much light to the darkness!

Smile mail is easy. Just take a moment to let someone know you are thinking of them. Sometimes I send out smile mail, just because. The person doesn’t need to be going through something to be told they are thought of. I’d encourage everyone to send out some smile mail in the new year. 😊