As I write this, my dear husband is preparing another one of his delicious Thanksgiving dinners. He truly loves to cook, and I am regularly banished from the kitchen. I admit it—I’m incredibly spoiled. He is unquestionably my culinary hero.

He’s also my telephone hero. In an age when so many, myself included, email and text instead of picking up the phone, my husband makes it a practice to call people and express his appreciation for their work, their kindness, or whatever he notices they’ve done that has really impressed him. The other night, for example, we attended a powerful play, Fun Home, produced by Pandora, a wonderful theater company in our city dedicated to presenting works that speak to the LGBTQ community and their allies. The next day, my husband called Pandora to say how deeply moving the production had been. The staff person he spoke with sounded thrilled to hear from a subscriber and told him she’d pass his message on to the director and everyone involved in the production.

So, one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to follow my husband’s lead and let people know how much I appreciate them and their work by calling them! I’m pretty good about writing notes to folks, but there is something lovely about a personal phone call, and I’m determined to make more of them.

Of course, I do have to admit that doing more cooking in the New Year hasn’t made it on to my resolutions list. How can I deprive my husband of one of his great joys in life, cooking for me? I know—what an excuse. But it’s what I’m going with.

Happy Thanksgiving!