Tag Archives: friends

Day 71: Peik

Posted on March 12, 2015 | Leave a comment
Day 71

I embossed this card myself!

I spent seven years working for a great company from Helsinki, Finland and through that experience I met some outstanding people and made friendships that I hope to keep for the rest of my life. One of those people is Peik. A Swedish speaking Finn with an affinity for classic cars, Peik was a fantastic colleague. He knew a little something about everything in the company and was always willing to help out when needed – even if it wasn’t directly related to his job. I had the pleasure of working with him in Arlington, VA and then from afar when I was based in Brazil and he was working for the company at the headquarters in Finland.

Today is his 41st birthday and I wanted to wish him well. He and his wife, Kitty, send me a nice holiday card every year and I am usually so bad about those kind of things I never get to mailing my own – I do buy them though! Hopefully this is a start of being better at keeping in touch with Peik and Kitty and a lot of other friends I haven’t written to in years.

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Moi Peik!

Grattis på födelsedagen! 

I hope you had a great birthday and apologize that this surely arrived well after your birthday – but hopefully you are so surprised to get a letter that you will forgive the timing.

I hope that this letter finds you, Kitty, Leo and Elsie doing well. Life here is good. I continue to do consulting work – mostly for WWF. No Mrs. Sandridge yet and not little Sandridges that I know of. My brother Ryan and his wife Mandy are expecting their second child within the week. I’m really enjoying being an uncle to my beautiful 2-year-old niece Jacqueline.

I read a little about MODZ – sounds like a great company. Congratulations on the new challenges.

It’s nice that you and Kitty post photos on Facebook of you and the kids – seeing Leo and Elsie grow up!

I hope to get to Finland some day soon…you are always welcome here in DC. I have such good memories of the time you and Kitty were here.

Terveisin,
Reed

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Day 63: Sympathy note

Posted on March 4, 2015 | Leave a comment

Hearing the news of the death of friend is always difficult. Today’s note is to a colleague of mine whose wife lost her five-year battle with cancer on Tuesday. I’m breaking with my normal posting practice and not showing the specific letter in respect to my friend and his family. I didn’t know his wife well, but she seemed to be an exceptional spouse, mother of two young children, and professional. My thoughts are with their entire family as they deal with this tragedy.

YearOfLetters

 

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Day 59: Ms. Charlotte

Posted on February 28, 2015 | Leave a comment

charlotte-2On August 19th of 2010 I met 93-year-old Charlotte as she sat on a bench with her sister enjoying the parade of sailboats gliding through Annapolis’ gentle harbor. It was Day 248 of my Year of Giving and I was looking for someone to give my daily $10 t0. Sitting next to her sister Jewell, the New Olreans resident had been in the Baltimore-Washington area for less than 8 hours – having just arrived that morning.

Ms. Charlotte is full of life and has an inviting smile that makes anyone feel welcome. It wasn’t long before I was sitting next to her captivated by the stories of her 10 children and the travels she’s made around the world. My favorite story perhaps though was about her late husband. They went on their first date on a Saturday evening during the final years of Roosevelt’s New Deal programs. On that date he asked her out for the remaining 51 Saturdays that year. Smart guy.

I visited with Ms. Charlotte in 2011. I was in New Orleans for business and wrote to her to see if she might want to get together. It wasn’t easy to schedule. She had plans to go to a baseball game on Monday night with one of her sons and Wednesdays were reserved for bridge – so we ended up meeting Tuesday evening. I picked her up and took her to a local restaurant that had fresh seafood and all the typical cajun delicacies.

Of all 365 people I met during my Year of Giving, Ms. Charlotte was one of my favorites and I wanted to send her a note today to wish her happiness on her 98th birthday.

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Dear Ms. Charlotte,

Happy 98th birthday! I met you in the summer of 2010 when you were visiting your sister Jewell in Annapolis. I was unemployed and had made a commitment to give $10 to someone every day for a year. I met you and gave you my $10 on Day 248. I remember the day very well – you were wearing an elegant white outfit accented with a floral scarf.

I later enjoyed visiting with you when I was in New Orleans in 2011 and taking you to dinner. Your passion for life is contagious and I cherish the fact that our lives crossed paths.

charlotteI hope that your health is well and that you are still getting together with your bridge group on Wednesdays.

Have a wonderful birthday.

Warm wishes from Washington, DC.
Reed Sandridge

 

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Day 47: Nick

Posted on February 16, 2015 | Leave a comment

Happy Presidents Day! Had I been clever today I would have written a letter to President Obama…damn, I guess there’s always his birthday which is August 4th. Anyway, today is a short note to say happy birthday to the son of some friends of mine. Nick’s a good kid and he’s starting to grow up awfully quick. He turned 12 yesterday.

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Happy Birthday Nick!

I hope you have a great day today.

See you soon,
Uncle Furry [Uncle Furry – that’s a long and probably embarrassing story]

 

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Day 42: The White House

Posted on February 11, 2015 | Leave a comment


Before you get all excited that I am firing off letters to President Obama – which I plan to do at some point – I should let you know that the house I lived in during college was infamously known as The White House. We threw parties there every week to help pay for college. Did we make money? Well, as an adult now I realize we probably should have been declaring income.

These are my friends Thom and Tressa - they didn't live there but they did meet in that kitchen and are married today. Those are some of the dishes that were there (literally sitting in the exact same spot unwashed) when we lived there in the 90s.

These are my friends Thom and Tressa – they didn’t live there but they did meet in that kitchen and are married today. Those are some of the dishes that were there (literally sitting in the exact same spot unwashed) when we lived there in the 90s.

Anyway, I got together with some of my roommates and friends from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in October and hung out in our old stomping grounds. The highlight was a visit to The White House. We were surprised by two things. First, the guys who live there now were there and let us in and second, the house looked (and smelled) exactly the same. In fact I’m quite sure the landlord has done nothing to that house, except raise the rent, in twenty years.

This post is dedicated to Brian, Emo, Doug, Dan and Dave.

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Hey guys,

I’ve been meaning to drop you a note to say thanks for showing us around our old house when my roommates and I stopped by in October. We called it the White House back then. Anyway, it was cool to see it. It seriously hasn’t changed a bit especially the kitchen and bathroom. You guys were cool – we said to each other after we left that you reminded us a lot of ourselves 20 years ago.

Good luck to you,
Reed Sandridge (’97)

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