Manners

One of the things that I have always done is write "thank you" cards. I'd be lying if I said I did it unfailingly, every single time one was required, but on the whole it is a consideration that I endeavor to not overlook. Most of my friends from graduate school will tell you that I would almost always send a "thank you" note to whomever had hosted a party or dinner that weekend.....and, let me tell you, some of those parties were not your high-brow, sophisticated, academic affair that one might imagine graduate students studying English literature would engage in. Most of them were downright raucous and wild, usually ending with at least one person taking off their clothes and streaking the neighborhood, and there was almost always somebody who managed to make his way onto the roof of whatever establishment was hosting the shin-dig.

With that being said, the next day, immediately after I regained consciousness, remembered how I'd gotten home, washed my face and hair, kept down solid foods, and found my glasses, I always sat down and wrote the host/hostess a nice "thank you" on my Neiman Marcus monogrammed stationary....usually expressing my sincerities with a fountain pen, no less. Betty Draper's got nothing on me! Just because you can't always behave in a refined, elegant, sober, and well-behaved manner in public doesn't mean you can't at least carry on with the attempt to maintain some sense of class thereafter.

And, just in case you need a little refresher on how to compose nice, handwritten "thank you" messages, Southern Living has given us a crash course on this small gesture, returning to a time when people only talked behind your back and at least pretended to be well-bred and polite.