Write a NICE letter! :)

Okay, so I’m on vacation. I know, crazy, right? I actually MADE it on one of my vacations. And I’m enjoying myself immensely. I’ll have plenty more to post about when I get home, but for now, I didn’t want to let this slip by. On Wednesday, Veronica wrote this for SPP. She, like most of us, had seen the terrible letter that was slipped under the door of an autistic person. And she, like all of us, was completely appalled by it. So to try and even out the good versus the bad in the universe, has challenged everyone to write a NICE letter. Sure, it won’t make the bad people stop doing bad things, but flooding the world with a little niceness surely can’t hurt, right? Right.

Here’s the letter that I’m going to be sending out when I get home. (Don’t worry, I’ll share the reason for the letter in a post next week when I recap my trip, lol)

August 23, 2013

To the Manager of Klaben Ford:

Hello, my name is Amanda Buckland, and I’d like to tell you a little about the experience I had last week with your service department. I am from Michigan, and was driving to Virginia on Tuesday, when my car (a 2009 Ford Focus) suddenly lost power and the wrench light came on. I was 300 miles from home and had no idea what to do. Through the assistance of a friend, I was able to locate your service center and managed to get my car to you.

Even though they were very busy, my car was immediately taken back for the diagnostic test. In the meantime, the guys in the front of the service department were more than friendly, and took very good care of me. I’d been rather shaken up and they managed not only to calm me down but to actually make me laugh. The diagnostic came back without a code error, so it was recommended that the Mass Airflow Sensor be cleaned, and they could get me back on the road that night. They did inform me that there was a possibility that it was something more serious, but since there was no error code, they determined that it was safe for me to continue on my way.

I made it about 15 miles out of town and my car quit again. I called the service department back and told them, and asked them to please order the part for me, since I was in the same position as earlier. Jeff, the gentleman I dealt with the most, told me to bring the car in first thing in the morning, they would make a special run to get my part (since it was 6pm, and the parts department was already closed). He apologized profusely even though it was no fault of his, or your service department.

I arrived at the dealership at 9am Wednesday morning. They took the car right back to start taking everything apart so that the minute the part arrived, they could put it on and send me on my way. In the meantime, one of the guys in the service center offered to run me down to the mall so that I didn’t have to sit in the repair center all morning. I declined the offer, since I’d brought my laptop and intended to do some work. When I told them that’s what I’d planned on doing, I was offered use of one of their meeting tables so that I could work in comfort and privacy.

I apologize for not remembering anyone’s name other than Jeff, but EVERYONE that I encountered was extremely friendly and most helpful. Not one person walked by me without asking how I was or if there was anything they could do/get for me. My car was fixed in a very timely manner, the prices were reasonable, and I have since arrived safely at my destination.

This was a time when I could have been completely taken advantage of. I am a woman traveling on my own with a limited amount of car knowledge. They could have told me that anything under the sun was wrong with the car, and I would have believed them. Instead, they treated me very well, understood my situation, and tried to get me back on the road with as quickly and inexpensively as possible.

The way I was treated was more than anything I would have expected out of even my hometown dealership. I fully intend (and I informed them of this) to return to your dealership in the spring, when I am ready to purchase a new car. It will be a 5 hour drive from where I will be living, but it will be worth every minute to be able to deal with your company and the people you employ again.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I’m not usually a letter-writer, but I was incredibly impressed by your staff and felt that you needed to know.

Amanda Buckland

Port Huron, MI

Veronica has created a special hashtag for this endeavor (#writeaniceletter), and I think it would be really cool if we could all turn this in to a thing. Write your letter – it doesn’t have to be anything huge, even just a few lines – send it to someone, and then blog about it, tweet about it, Facebook about it … whatever it is that you do, so that we can keep this chain going.

My Dad, My Hero

In grade school, one of the most common things teachers ask you to write about is your hero. All of the boys list their favorite athlete, and all of the girls pick one of their parents, typically their father. This assignment was always a little weird to me. I never knew who to put down. I didn’t really follow sports, and I never felt like anything my parents did was exciting enough to make them a hero. I always felt bad about thinking that, but as a kid, you have these grand illusions of what a hero should be. I usually ended up going with my dad because that’s what everyone else did, and I didn’t want to be left out. The next part was even harder. The teacher always asked WHY. So, I would write down something like “because he spends time with me”. It always felt really lame, because I thought those were things that every dad did, and that they were nothing terribly special.

Wrong.

Those types of things are EXACTLY what makes him a hero. The normal everyday stuff that everyone takes for granted as a kid is actually pretty special. So I’ve decided, in honor of today, and of my dad in general, I am going to re-do this childhood assignment.

The answer is my dad, beyond a shadow of a doubt. For SO many reasons. My 5^th grade answer of “because he spends time with me” still stands, but with much more clarity and wisdom. I always knew that my dad worked, and worked hard. But what I didn’t realize until I was much older was that he and my mom made a LOT of sacrifices to give Alex and I what we had. When he wasn’t working, he was spending time with us. But it was so much more than what it seemed as a child. Time spent with him weeding the garden or picking vegetables wasn’t work. Looking back, it’s actually one of my fondest memories. He was constantly talking, teaching and I walked away with a vast knowledge of gardening. Time spent watching him take photos and listening to him talk about stuff that I didn’t (at the time) understand led to a deep love for photography, which is apparent in my everyday life. Time spent sitting next to him, watching the birds at the feeders was more than a way to pass a Sunday. He would identify every bird as it flew to the feeder and tell me about each one. Now, I can identify most birds by closing my eyes and listening to their song. Handing him nails while he built our new deck wasn’t just another task. I learned the proper way to measure and cut boards, learned about the proper supports for structures, and if I really needed to, I could probably build my own deck. All of the time I spent in the kitchen with him was more than cutting up vegetables and doing chores. Not only was I learning how to cook, but I was learning about responsibility and cleaning up after myself. The list goes on and on. Every seemingly mundane thing was actually far more significant. Every minute he spent with us was either imparting his vast knowledge or building character. Or both. At 10, I thought those most of those things seemed kind of boring. At 30, I know all of those things are pretty damned special.

First taste of watermelon 🙂

When tragedy struck a few years ago and I had no idea what to do with myself, once again, there was my dad. He opened his home to me and helped me begin to rebuild my life. It was then that all of this started to become clear to me. Al of the lessons from my childhood came crashing back through as we spent countless sleepless nights on the couch, just talking. Sharing more wisdom, and rebuilding character. He picked me up, dusted me off, and set me back on the right path. Seems so simple, right? Seems like something that any dad would do? Maybe, but to me, it made a world of difference, and I realized then that my dad was truly my hero. Who knows where I’d be today without him.

My Wedding Day

In loving memory of my dad, Gary Albright, who passed away three years ago today. I love you, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss you.

Moments like these are beyond special ❤

Never take the simple moments for granted.

Always with a camera in hand 🙂

So happy – muskie fishing 🙂