This is the most deeply meaningful and creative gift I’ve ever heard of. We call it 60 for 60 and here’s how it works - in case you want to do something similar for someone you love.

On the day I turned 60 a few weeks ago, Hubs gave me this cheeky journal so I wouldn't forget a single thing. Every day for 60 days, I record the little gift he gives me, and write the clue he created that leads me to the real gift - a special way of connecting with someone, which was exactly what I wanted for my 60th birthday. Intentional connection.

Hubs made it 60 ways for my 60th year. I have no idea how he comes up with this stuff, but it's really good.

So far, I have tackled his tricky riddles with steam coming out of my ears, concentrating and fumbling, guessing wrong as I ask my allotted ten questions, trying to figure it out the day's way he has orchestrated future connection.

But on our way to Mexico for a long overdue reunion with his family, Hubs gave me this one that was straightforward instead. It took no solving but created a different kind of challenge. A beautiful one for the year ahead:

TELL 60 PEOPLE YOU LOVE THEM, AND MEAN IT.
OR TELL THEM YOU LOVE SOMETHING ABOUT THEM.
BUT YOU REALLY HAVE TO MEAN IT.

Imagine over the course of a year, really sinking into that. No rushing. No throwing out a lame one liner. But really thinking about it and telling someone why they matter all the way to the core of your heart.

It makes me think about eulogies and how bass-ackwards it is that we wait until someone dies to gush about them. Why don’t we tell them all that beautiful stuff when they’re here in the midst of life together? When we can share our heart and they can receive that kind of love?

And that’s what Hubs’ challenges me to do. To love openly and exuberantly. To think about, look for, take stock of things that I love, admire, or appreciate about the people around me.

Already, this is changing the way I walk into my day and my interactions. It makes me look for the goodness in others. To feel it.

And it starts with Hubs, my gift in his own right.
Grateful. Grateful. Grateful.

*****
By the way, the easiest way to stay connected and see more of how this year of connection unfolds is to subscribe to my occasional emails at tracywilsonwriter.com and follow on social media here: