The one in the way back is from the staff at the Bennington Free Library – my coworkers for the last two plus years – many short thanks and well wishes. The lighthouse is from a coworker who retired; she came in to say goodbye at my last staff meeting a week back. The Garden card is from the woman who has been my Baby & Toddler Story Time partner; her work and creativity added so much to that program, and she made each Tuesday fun.

The final card is from Arlo. I’ve watched him grow over the past couple of years, and watched him become a big brother to Finn. His mother helped him by writing the words he spoke verbatim. The drawings are all his.

In a relatively short period of time, most of the people who signed these cards won’t think of me often; in a couple of years, very few will remember I’d spent time in their presence. And that’s as it should be. We risk losing the gift of those who are in our lives in the present if we spend most of our lives dwelling in the company of former neighbors and colleagues. That doesn’t mean we didn’t have an effect: it means that the love and grace we gave has been woven into the lives of others without us being recognized as its source – the gift is still precious, it’s just lost it’s tag.

Thanks be to God for all the precious gifts I’ve been given, especially the ones whose tags have been lost to time.