Quiet Please and Thank You

I feel gratitude each time I turn down my gravel driveway. I’m grateful to be home. I’m grateful that my home is a woodland, and I am grateful for the “Quiet Thank You” sign that reminds me to be silent. 

If guests are staying at the cottage, I turn down my radio. I’m careful about slamming my car door, but unfortunately I am less likely to quiet my inner noise. 

Today, I hung a new “quiet” sign because the wooden one, made by David Bartholomew, is decaying. 

Since David first hung his sign from a buckthorn, the tree has swallowed its wire. Rot has poked holes through its “thank you”, which I had misremembered as “please”. 

When I painted the replacement sign, I painted “Quiet Please”, and not until I went to hang up the new sign just a minute ago did I realize that it actually reads: “Quiet Thank You”.

I wonder about the difference. Does it matter? Is “please” too harsh? Is “thank you” more gracious?

I’m sad about this unintended altercation. I’m sad that David’s sign is falling apart, and that Pat will likely cut that buckthorn down altogether. 

I know that the new sign will continue to remind me of how lucky I am to live here and how grateful I am that we can share this place with guests. Perhaps I will eventually learn how to quiet that inner racket maker a little better . . . PLEASE!