MAR 26, 2020 – We hope this finds you safe and well and, if possible, sheltered at home. May all those amazing souls on the front line be spared. To us, it feels good to see so many of you spreading the love, not the virus, through our Stay-Connected Collection or your own choice of cards. We also feel grateful because your orders support our small business and our retailers, too, since we’re splitting the income with them. Now, Cardies being Cardies, many of you have thoughtfully included us in your outreach. :) Here we’ll show you some of the bright spots Cardies are seeing in the world and sharing with us and, beneath that, what cards are trending …

Babs DePalermo emailed from South Carolina to say, “Just thought I’d share a sweet moment with you. My mom, Flo, is in a senior living center here. With all facilities in lockdown mode, the next best thing proved to be interesting and uplifting for my 95-year-old mother.

“This picture of me CONVERSING QUITE LOUDLY with Mom was taken by Sarah Deegan, the wonderful young woman who is Dining Facility Manager. Sarah happened to be relaxing between residents’ lunch and dinner deliveries when she spotted my mother and me making the best of the situation.”

Our reply to Babs was that we sure wish we could get this pic into the hands of a TIME magazine photo editor because what a wonderful “sign of the times” cover.

Cardie Ann John wrote us (also from South Carolina … they seem to grow them extra-thoughtful there :) Ann shared, “This morning I woke to find this message from a colleague. Seeing it, I remembered that I had sent the evil eye card to him for his birthday back in July and was surprised that he (1) had hung on to it (2) remembered it and thought to send its caring message back to me at this time (3) knew — as all good Cardies do — that a great card for one occasion can easily be altered when the message is applicable to other situations such as this!

“Last night I started getting my card order together and will now be adding evil eye to it! I’m also going to have a few boxes of note cards shipped directly to my friend because, when I called to thank him for thinking of me, he mentioned that he planned to write to a whole lot of people that mean a lot him and his wife and children. I sure want to help encourage that! Stay well.”

As always, it was a pleasure to hear from the amazing, soulful writer that is Jenni Betz. Jenni and her mother Rosie have together contributed 17 well-loved card messages.

Last night Jenni emailed, “Do you wonder whether this period of time will remind folks what a treat it is to get real mail? Mom is fine, and hasn’t left the house for over a week. She is at the top of a long list of old(er) people I love, and hope get to be old for a really long time.”

Both Jenni’s husband and sister are nurses, and “I am worried about them and whether they’ll face choosing whom to intubate and whether they’ll have enough gear to keep themselves safe,” Jenni shared. “At some point, they might stop coming home for fear of exposing our families.

“It takes some kind of courageous hospitality to keep the front door closed, doesn’t it?” Jenni wrote. “Locking ours now before bed, wondering whether anything has ever felt more lonely, or more like love.”

And this lovely text from my niece, Jennifer. She sent the sweet video of her Madison – that you really need to watch with your sound up – and just three words that say it all. May they serve as a most soothing mantra for everyone: All is Well.

jodee stevens
founder & chief creative