How It All Started

My siblings and I were born lucky, I guess. At least, that's how it seemed to us. We had a grandmother and a great aunt, in particular, who showered us with affection and spoiled us rotten. And we loved it -- and them. Did I mention the great holiday cards and remembrances they sent? Each birthday, our grandmother sent us a birthday card with two crisp new dollar bills inside. Every Christmas without fail, our great aunt gave each of us our own ornament with two silver dollars attached. Year after year, holiday after holiday, their gifts arrived until we learned we could 'count on' them -- fully mindful of the fact, of course, that we should also count our blessings for being such lucky kids.

I can't begin to tell you ALL of the life lessons their consistent kindnesses taught us... We learned about unconditional love. If we were good, our cards and gifts arrived. If we slipped a bit (although we tried very hard not to), they still arrived, regardless. We learned that even though we were 'only kids' we were uniquely important individuals in our own right -- both valued and valuable. 
We also leaned our first lessons in financial management... how to budget, how to borrow (responsibly) -- "I'll pay you back when Grandma's birthday card arrives."

At a very early age, I realized I could never repay these two wonderful women for their caring generosity. My legacy (really theirs) was to pay it forward to future generations. The initial members of my Kids Club were my nieces and nephews. Along the way, I also 'adopted' additional members -- neighborhood kids, children of colleagues and friends; kids who touched my life in one way or another.

I quickly learned that even though I thought I was paying it forward, I was reaping great, unexpected, often amusing, and always heartwarming rewards in return.
I discovered that even before they learned to read, 'my kids' could identify the mail that was 'just for them' (by the stickers on the back flaps of the envelopes.) They would carry their mail around with them or find a safe spot in their room to protect it until the holiday arrived and they could open it. They learned about patience, and about anticipation.

The concept of including one dollar per age attained in birthday cards evolved primarily to keep me in touch with how old the child 'was turning' that year. At about age four or five, they begin to figure out the connection between the number of dollars in their birthday card and how old they are. One child let me know that she 'got' the connection by saying, "I can't wait until I turn eighty." I didn't have the heart at the time to tell her that she would 'graduate' from the Kids Club when she became a teenager. There was time enough to learn that later; it was enough, for then, that she understood the concept.
I also have it on reliable authority that 'my kids' are actually quite proud to graduate from the Kids Club when they become teenagers. They appreciate the fact, they tell me, that someone begins to treat them as the young adult they feel they are a little sooner than their parents are often ready to.

So, I ask: Do you know any lucky kids?

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