"The Gift Inside Christmas Cards"

I finally got around to going through our Christmas baskete of cards tonight.

It always has to be just the right moment.

I was reminded of an old frat brother, Frank Ramsey. From Madisonville—a town smack in the ribs of Kentucky.

Frank’s dad was an absolute legend Kentucky basketball player who also won seven championship rings with the Celtics.

In the heartland of Kentucky, Frank’s dad was a christened saint.

Winding down my senior year in college, he was our guest speaker at some dinner event at our fraternity house for all of us knuckleheads.

To start his toast, in an incredibly thick, relaxed, confident, real-deal Madisonville, Kentucky accent, he said, “Boys, listen good. You are who your friends are.”

I just wish I could describe the way, and the pace he said that sentence.

It took longer for him to say the word “friends” than for me to slug down my third Rebel Yell and Diet Coke.

He went on to say the friends you choose in your life become, in many ways—a mirror of who you are.

I think he was right.

It’s easy to look back at those childhood pals, or early girlfriends who meant the world, or those friends along the way that may not be close anymore—they were wonderful shooting stars.

They were there with us – for a precious moment along the way.

On the flip side, I’m sure some friends along the journey didn’t show you who you wanted to be—but showed you who you didn’t want to be.

They all mattered.

They all add up. They’re all a little bit in the soup with you.

Some just a smidgen of seasoning, but they’re all in your soup.

Shaping your beliefs. Your passions. Your dreams. Your style.

They challenge you. They hurt you. They inspire you. They root for you. They warn you. They test you. They believe in you.

Friends.

It’s funny how Christmas cards keep trying to come up with some new, clever, hipper, funner way of saying ‘Merry Christmas.’

The truth is, I kind of wish the cards didn’t have any word on ’em at all.

Just the pictures. Just that one-liner on the card where your buddy handwrites something like, “Thinking of you.”

Doesn’t matter what they say. They’re really saying that no matter how far away they are in this world—we matter to them.

Out of all the friends along the way in their life, one of their cards—is for us.

Wrote our name out on the envelope. Licked a stamp. And stuck it in their town’s mailbox.

Just so we could have a moment, a little moment, remembering those days. Those days. Those wonderful days with them.

When we open up their card—when we look deep in their eyes on that card, I think they know…

We’ll remember.

We’ll remember when we were on the same beautiful road. That same road, taking it all in—but looking ahead.

Goodbye, my Christmas cards.

Goodbye, till we meet again.

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Jimmy Dunne is a modern-day Renaissance Man; a hit songwriter with songs on 28 million hit records; songs, scores, and themes in over a thousand television episodes and many hit films; a screenwriter and producer of hit television shows; award-winning book author; an entrepreneur—and his town’s “Citizen of the Year.” Reach out to him at j@jimmydunne.com.

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