Earlier this week, I made cookies for colleagues that took time to speak to the Lafayette students I hosted for an externship (essentially a job shadow). I packed them up in little boxes that I got at Target and delivered them with a handwritten thank you note.

I was surprised at how touched my colleagues were by this gesture. I got so many thank you’s for my thank you. But it was more than that. It seemed like it really touched their hearts.

Then, my heart was really touched when I was on the receiving end of a gesture like that…

On Tuesday afternoon, I got an email from a colleague in athletics:

Joanna, Good afternoon. Would you like two tickets to the Men’s Basketball game tomorrow night? Let me know if you’d like them and I’ll place them at will call for you.

My colleague didn’t explicitly say that this was a “thank-you” but regardless I was touched by this generosity. By his thinking of me and taking time out of his day to do this for me.

These experiences got me thinking about gratitude and connection. I think people just want to know they’re valued. And to have that expressed with a gesture like cookies was really nice. To be offered basketball tickets totally out of the blue (I’ve never been to a game!) was an acknowledgement of respect. These little things go a really long way.

Talk to me:

Have you been acknowledged or thanked recently in a way that really touched your heart?

Is there someone in your life that you’d like to thank?