She’s lived in the building next door to our founder for many years, and been part of the Cardthartic Creative process in many ways. First, a little-known fact: All proposed Cardthartic cards are first tested on the beach. Yep, we publish only designs that have made it past Jodee’s brutally honest sandy-feet focus group, headed by Marianne. :) She’s such a good person on which to test proposed designs because she gets that we need her to be brutally honest, or what’s the point?!
So, back in 2016, when she was asked to judge what was to become the “You may not aim to be an inspiration” birthday card below, she grew so quiet for so long that Jodee finally asked, “No?” Marianne quickly said, “Oh, goosebumps YES! I haven’t said anything because I’m sitting here trying to work up the nerve to ask if you might dedicate it to my mother who is turning 94.” It was an honor for us to do so — and even in time for Mary Doreen’s birthday bash — and Marianne snapped the pic of her Mom reading the new card aloud.
Just months later, Mary Doreen Meischeid suddenly passed away. As a way of grieving the loss of the mother she held so dear, Marianne went to stay with a close friend in Rehoboth Beach, DE, who is a regular at our great retail partner Browseabout Books there. Marianne’s text to Jodee read, “Wow, I walked into Browseabout just now and the first thing I saw was Mom’s card! That red poppy jumped right off the fixture at me! It’s as if Mom’s signaling, ‘I’m right here with you, honey, still watching over you.’”
The design had a good, long run before it was retired a couple of years ago, and Jodee still credits the ultimate success of many messages to their being fine-tuned by Marianne. And because she and Jodee are often the last ones to leave the beach each weekend because they just can’t stop reading, who do you suppose inspired the Meanings of Life reading card!? Keep on, Marianne.
Cards Dedicated to Marianne
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