July 9, 2021 — Like two best buds, International Day of Friendship and National Friendship Day are hanging pretty close together, to be celebrated on July 30th and August 1st respectively. We thought we’d give you a heads-up on these upcoming Hallmark holidays so you can consider sending cards off to your own great friends. And we want to introduce you to two Cardies who personify the beauty of lifelong friendship.

Cardie Candy Clausell rose to Contributing Cardie status 🤩 several years ago when her first card message was published on this loving Passages design. Go to Candy’s profile and you’ll see that she now has nine wonderfully meaningful messages to her credit. It was Candy who brought her fun BFF Madeline Stockbridge into the fold. While Mad has not been published yet, she has embraced Cardie Yoga with a passion, rarely missing our fulfilling and free MWF classes. Because Candy has been featured many times here, we’re going to give the story and glory to Madeline today. 😉

“In the winter of 1951, Candy and I were born into families who lived across the street from each other in New Jersey. We became each other’s first friend. When Candy was seven, her mom died, and her family moved away. Long before email, text messages, social media and zoom, we found ways to stay in touch. Through the years, we’d write, call, and visit each other for weekends. Despite living many states apart from each other since 1977, we remain the closest of friends to this day.

“Candy and I have been in each other’s weddings, traveled internationally with our husbands together, and supported each other through our own cancer battles. We have weathered many storms, grieved, shared a million laughs, and know that we can always pick up the phone to share our sorrows and joys without judgement. We are as close now as when we were seven.

“Cardthartic has that beautiful condolence card, ‘When you’ve loved someone your whole life … their love surrounds you still.’ That will be Candy and me someday.”

Wow, we should all be so blessed to have a Candy or Madeline in our corner! A friend who always has our back. Who knows us better than we know ourselves sometimes. Who, no matter how much time or distance separates us, will always be there when we reach out.

In celebration of the two Friendship days at month’s end, we’re hoping you’ll make time to bring your own through-it-all friends to mind. And then find — in our cards or one that you compose yourself — the perfect words to acknowledge them. You might just start with Candy’s words … visit her Cardie Profile and you’ll see why we’re proud to call her Contributing Cardie! The very first one you see, it’s dedicated to Madeline.

Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative