How to Etch-A-Sketch

I have taken to leaving Etch-A-Sketch notes in the bathroom for the man in my life. These aren’t like normal notes, though. They can’t be: They’re on an Etch-A-Sketch. On a normal note, I might leave a list of things to do, or things to buy, or things to not forget during the day, with a quick “I love you” at the end, and maybe a drawing if I’m feeling crafty. On an Etch-A-Sketch (pocket-sized, I might add), I have to condense everything into one all-expressive sentence with no punctuation, and joined-up letters.

After a few weeks, the notes become repetitive. I can only write about Seth’s great legs or how cute he is when he shaves so many times. Even with the added spice of his responses in blocky, illegible etch-a-sketching, the novelty wears off. Something has to change.

I left myself an inspirational note. Don’t get me wrong, Seth’s notes to me are great — when I can read them. I made the mistake of erasing one of his notes to me when I mistook it for a scribbly doodle in the bottom corner. And there’s no Edit->Undo button on an Etch-A-Sketch. So I thought I’d leave myself something nice, to make me feel good at night when I brush my teeth. Here’s what I’ve been looking at these days:

It’s a little dusty, but I think the message is perfect. Especially if you can do it too. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to leave yourself little notes (even though you may not have a super cool Pocket Etch-A-Sketch like some people I know…). I felt silly about writing this to myself — at first. But then I started to believe it.