Today you learn the machine that powers all correspondence — the structure that means you'll never stare at a blank card again. Nearly every great note ever posted is these five sentences:
1. Greet them by name. "Dear Margaret" — warm and unhurried.
2. Thank or acknowledge the specific thing. Not "everything" — the lamb dinner, the phone call, the vase. Specificity is the entire game.
3. Say what it meant. This is the keeper sentence: where the gift lives now, what the kindness held together, what you've thought about since.
4. Look forward. One line pointing at the future — the return invitation, the next visit.
5. Close and sign. "With love," "Yours," "Gratefully" — your hand, your name.
That's a complete, excellent note, finished before your tea cools. The five-sentence length isn't a compromise — it's the correct length: one true thing, fully said. (The full craft, with examples to steal: the thank-you guide.)
Your assignment
Open the loaded drawer from Lesson 1 and send ONE thank-you note today — for something recent or something years overdue (late needs one clause, not a paragraph). If the first line won't come, the What Do I Write? tool will hand it to you. Post it. Feel that? That's the habit starting.