A Surprise Thank You!

 
Dear Mr. Stucker,
My name is Andrea (Banda) Fortenberry. I don't know that you'll 
remember me, but I invited you to speak at my high school graduation 
at Los Lunas HS in 2000.
I am writing because I wanted to give you a very long-overdue thank 
you. I want to explain why I am doing this so many years later:
A month or so after our graduation, my class sponsor (an employee of 
the school), her daughter (one of my classmates) and I were going to 
purchase a thank-you gift for you and some other people. We had set up 
a day to do this, but my sponsor called me and said that she wouldn't 
be able to make it. We were never able to meet up over the summer to 
do this, so she assured me that she and her daughter would take care 
of the thank-you cards and gifts. Being the naive 17-year old that I 
was, I trusted her to do this. I went away to college and assumed that 
they sent out the gifts.                               
Years later the school found out that she had embezzled a lot of money 
from our class fund over the four years that she was our sponsor. She 
was fired from the school and we will never know how much money she 
took or what happened to it. With this in mind, I highly doubt that 
she ever sent you a thank-you gift or card.
It has been on my heart to send you a gift for some time, and I 
sincerely apologize that I have not done so until now. I ask for your 
forgiveness, you were so gracious and generous with your time to speak 
at our graduation. It was a wonderful speech and I am so appreciative 
that you accepted my invitation to do so!
I wish that I would have had the discernment then to follow-up to make 
sure you were properly thanked. I also wish that I would have taken 
the initiative to do so myself, but as I look back, I was busy 
preparing to go to college in California and I believed that our 
sponsor would be true to her word. Again, I am so sorry.
I have sent a gift to the KOB studios, it will arrive around June 15, 
I'm told. I wanted to let you know ahead of time that it will be 
arriving. Thank you again so much! I sincerely apologize for the 
tardiness, I feel such guilt about not taking care of this sooner.
I pray that you and your family are well! I have a family of my own 
now and am enjoying its many blessings. I live in Arizona, but 
occasionally make it back to NM to visit family. I always tune in to 
the KOB morning show, it is always a pleasure to see you work.
May the Lord bless and keep you always! You are His salt and light!
Sincerely,
 
Andrea (Banda) Fortenberry 
 
 
Dear Andrea,
 
Thanks for your very kind email.  I honestly never had a second thought about it, but your kindness and follow through so many years later, will make it extra special to me.  You are one in a million, and I imagine everyone around you realizes what a unique person you are.  I'm on vacation for a few weeks, but will look for (and acknowledge) your gift when I return the week of the 24th.  I am excited to know that you are doing so well in your life, and am humbled by your very generous comments.  May God Bless.....ss

---

Lauren found her dream laptop. Find the PC that's right for you.

Sphere: Related Content