Every now and then, something comes my way in the post, under my door, or nestled in my pigeon hole at work.

I know who it’s from as soon as I see the familiar handwriting. A warm feeling spreads inside me. I imagine it’s how people felt when letter writing was the only way you could communicate. Nowadays we get that short-lived bubble of excitement when we receive texts or emails from those we know. But it’s somehow not the same as an old fashioned letter that someone took the best part of an hour to write. I suspect that in part, that’s because the few, wonderful texts and emails that make our hearts sing don’t make up the sheer volume of communication under which we get systematically buried each day.

Most texts and emails are utilitarian, transient, and sometimes meaningless. Be home soon / Can I borrow your car? / Do you have time to catch up on the weekend? / Where did you put the hair dryer??? They are more like stilted conversations than the lasting gift of a letter that’s lovingly composed, and puts a slice of that person’s heart right there on the page for you to drink in with your eyes.

So this friend, this old student of mine, who takes the time to think of me, and to send me gifts and updates adds a complete sparkle to my day, and to my life. I keep her writing, books, musings, on hand in my office, and I often look at them. Every time I do, I can’t help but feel a ray of sunshine kissing the top of my head, and I get a sense that everything’s all right with the world. If people are capable of this, then surely we can work our way out a few other messes – from the teeny-tiny to the global – that get us down.

Every book I’ve received from this friend is inspirational in a different way. Here’s a selection:

1. Teachers who change lives
2. The gift
3. How to be a heroine
4. The rise of the creative class
5. You know you’re a writer when…

Each has a quirky, affectionate inscription inside the front cover that brings a smile to my lips every time I read it, and that others remark upon when borrowing these books.

And that’s not all. She sends me her wonderful poems and short stories, DVDs of her latest educational exploits, emails that update me on what’s going on in her world, and in her heart. In short, she keeps me in the loop, and I like it. I like it very much. It’s like having a long-distance friendship, and in that way, I know it will keep going along those lines even though we don’t communicate that often. And though I recognise I’ve been the lazy one in the equation. I have some ground to make up, because I have been getting so much, but giving back little.

So I give thanks for the random, and not so random kindnesses that people put out there. In them, we find the nurture we need to keep moving forward, and every now and then, we get directions to destinations we never thought existed.