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Day 70: Leigh Anne & Sean Tuohy

Posted on March 11, 2015 | Leave a comment


TuohyBookMost people are familiar with the film The Blind Side – the movie based on Michael Lewis’ book about NFL football tackle Michael Oher and his journey to professional football. Part of that story is him being adopted by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy who live in Memphis, TN.

In 2010 Leigh Anne and Sean wrote their own book In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving. One day my brother called me and said that his mother-in-law had mentioned that I was mentioned in the book. I got a copy and sure enough I’m mentioned in regards to my Year of Giving project. Pretty cool.

I’ve always meant to thank them – so here goes. By the way, I just read this week that Oher signed a $2.5 million deal with the Carolina Panthers. I hope he has a great season for them – they could sure use a good blocker on their offensive line.

Day 70

Dear Leigh Anne and Sean,

For several years I’ve meant to send you a note to thank you for your thoughtful mention of my Year of Giving project in your book In a Heartbeat. It was a pleasant surprise to come across.

Your personal story is inspiring and I’m looking forward to reading your forthcoming book. 

All the best to you and thank you for everything you do for your community and for others.

Reed

PS. I recall that you own some Taco Bells – I sure hope that you’re offering the Sriracha Quesarito down there!

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Day 52: Aunt Kay

Posted on February 21, 2015 | Leave a comment

It’s cold outside here in DC – perfect weather for letter-writing!

My aunt has very nice penmanship.

My aunt has very nice penmanship.

I think this is my fourth letter to the state of Oklahoma. There are two dozen states that I haven’t written even once. My unscientific hypothesis is that Oklahomans like to write letters.

Earlier this week I got a nice handwritten note from my Aunt Kay who lives outside of Oklahoma City. She was in DC for nearly a month helping to care for her brother who has had some health problems. I got to see her a few times while she was in DC and enjoyed very much the time we spent together.

I wrote back to her this morning.

Day 52

Dear Aunt Kay,

What a pleasant surprise to find your card in my mailbox today. I very much enjoyed spending time with you when you were here in Washington. You’re probably glad you are not here now – we got about four inches of snow and it has been terribly cold. I picked up lunch (Thai) on Saturday – actually it was Sunday – and visited with Haeworth. He seemed good and I enjoyed our conversation. I stopped by on Tuesday and dropped off some ice-cream that he likes from Glen’s Garden Mkt: Steve’s Small Batch Bourbon Vanilla.

I hope that you a had a good visit with Doug – I bet that was nice to have him home. Give Ted a hug for me – I hope he’s doing ok. Let me know when you might be back in town – I look forward to that.

Love,
Jason
PS – Yes, believe it or not, Haeworth & I have different zip codes.

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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.

day 42-2

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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Day 27: Nicky

Posted on January 27, 2015 | Leave a comment

I asked the Twitter world yesterday who I should write to today and got a response back from a friend and former coworker in Oklahoma City who thought his son would appreciate a letter.

Screen Shot 2015-01-26 at 10.50.45 PM

I love the fact that he checks the mailbox every day – I used to do the same thing. I remember how excited I’d get when I got a letter in the mail which usually only happened around my birthday or the holidays.

I hope he enjoys getting the letter and I look forward to hearing back from him!

YoL-3-2

Dear Nicky,

I am a friend of your father’s and he told me that you like to receive mail – me too! I like to send and receive handwritten letters. In fact, I have made a promise to send a handwritten letter to someone every day this year. You are the 27th person that I have written to!

YoL-4-2I wrote to another boy in Oklahoma – his name is Cade and he lives in Yukon. He wrote a letter to every NFL team. I thought that was pretty cool.

I heard that you are in kindergarten. Who is your teacher? What is your favorite part about school? Do you like sports? I bet you like OSU – I think your mom and dad both went to school there. Do you have any brothers or sisters?

I live in Washington, DC. It’s an amazing city full of historic monuments and important buildings like the White House where the president lives and also the Capitol where the congress meets. Have you been here? If not, maybe your parents will bring you some time.

I have to go now. I hope that you will write me back.

Your friend,
Reed

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Day 1: Josie Adivino

Posted on January 1, 2015 | 4 comments

Happy New Year!

Today is my first letter in my year-long commitment to write handwritten letters. I’ve seen a few other blogs that tried this, but I haven’t seen anyone get past a month or two. After successfully completing my Year of Giving project, I am confident that I can complete this task as well. I may however run out of people to write to, so feel free to send me your suggestions.

Josie in 1987

Josie in 1987

My first letter is to Josie Adivino – someone I met through letters in the 1980s. Back then when it wasn’t uncommon to sign up to have a pen pal with someone from another country, Josie and I were connected. At the time Continue reading →

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