By Shannon Williams
Are greeting cards a thing of the past? I love cards, I love getting them, sending them and shopping for them. But I fear that those of us who love cards are getting to be a small group and I hate that. My love of cards comes from my grandmother on my mother’s side, she only had two children, but those two daughters had 13 children between them. I am not sure how my grandmother kept up, but for every holiday, and I mean every holiday, we each got a greeting card and it had two brand new dollar bills in each one. She never sent the same card to any of the grandchildren in the same house and each had a little note to that person. While I loved the two dollars, I loved the cards just as much. I do the same for our grandson, but put a $5 bill in the card and it is never a brand new one! I have to call his mother and tell her to make sure to check the mail box for the card, as they get so little snail mail, they really do not check the mail.

I have great fun picking out a card for each holiday, but if my grandmother was alive she would have had to take out a small loan to send out 13 cards! I just try not to look at what I am paying for cards. (HINT…. Trader Joes, has great cards, very creative and usually only $0.99 !!) This weekend, I sent out about 10 cards, one for a dear friend who is retiring, 3 to friends who are having struggles in their life, and then Easter Cards. Since I have a Mother and Aunt who are both over 90, cards are a big deal for them both, so I try to send one or two a month. While they often forget to tell me they got the card, I see them proudly displayed in their homes when I visit.

My aunt and I have birthdays close together, and for years she has a contest with me about who gets the most Birthday cards. I tell her it is not fair, as most of my generation gave up cards and now just send a birthday post on Facebook. I tried to get her to count those and she would not. She says sending a card says that I took time and spent my money to wish you a Happy Birthday and that anyone can push a “like button” for a birthday wish on Facebook. She does have a point!

For about five years, I would paint my own Christmas Cards and then have them printed, I gave up when work just got to busy and I did not have the time to paint much, but cannot wait until I retire and have time again to paint a card for Christmas. They are very simple paintings and never anything original; I can paint, but I cannot draw! Luckily, I learned about light boxes and can put my own spin on cards that I like.

I know I have a box of cards and pictures I want to use one day when I return to making my own cards. Cards just make me feel good. I like to send a card to someone about a month after they have lost a loved one. By then the cards and food and phone calls have stopped and everyone expects life to return to normal; but if you have lost a loved one, you know it is just about a month afterwards that you start to feel as the shock has worn off. It is my hope that a little unexpected card will let them know that grief is a process and I am thinking of them.

My poor husband sometimes gets two or three cards for an occasion, as I cannot decide on just one! He tells me not to mail them, but I still spend the money for a stamp. I love to mail a card as I am going out of town to arrive while I am gone. I think Thank You cards are some of my favorite to get, but these days I will settle for a text just something to let me know you got the gift. There is an art to writing thank you notes and it is a lost art, which is sad. There were strict rules around thank you notes in my house growing up and also as I raised my son. I have since release him from sending them to me, but ask that he still send them to his grandmother.

It is rare that I get a thank you note for a wedding or baby gift anymore and I think that is rude, but it is now very acceptable not to send one. So, I am going to continue to send cards, ok, I could never buy another one and have enough to send cards for every occasion for several years. I should have bought stock in Hallmark as many as I buy!!

So maybe you should consider sending a card to someone, just for no reason but to say I am thinking about you. I promise, you it will make them feel loved and it will make you feel better. It is a small act of kindness that we should not let fall by the wayside.

[March-29-2021]