October 7, 2022 — It was as if Cardie Toni Hoepf knew we wanted to show you this card today and took it upon herself to tell us a great story to go with it! 🤩
From my mailbox Wednesday night, I pulled out our signature sage envelope and smiled at the sight of Toni’s return address and ubiquitous OSU sticker. Inside, she’d penned a thoughtful message saying she was glad to see that Miami came through Ian unscathed, and then added a “PS: I just mailed one of your new cards to an old friend. It was the ‘kids together’ card. So perfect!
“I was invited to Bunny’s 3rd birthday party soon after my family had moved to her neighborhood,” Toni’s note went on to explain, “and we’ve been friends ever since! We were born 10 days apart, in October of ‘54. Friendship like ours is a gift!”
Thinking that, to nurture a relationship over 65 years, Toni must know well that “Friendship is a big thing … made up of so many little things.” So I quick emailed her yesterday morning to ask her to please tell us more. Wow, what a great memory — and memories — this Cardie has!
She replied, “Bun and I grew up on a street of young families packed with kids. We spent so much time together playing at one another’s houses or running around outside, we pretty much only came home for meals! I can still see us roller skating around my back patio using the clothesline to make the turn, or sitting at the picnic table under the shade tree making doll clothes with scraps of fabric.” 
“Just for giggles,” Toni said, “I’ve attached a photo of the neighborhood gang. That’s me on the right in the striped pants, and Bun is sitting in front of me. As you can see, pixies were the haircut of our youth!
“Since then,” Toni said, “we’ve just always been there for each other, and we cherish our long friendship. We’ve kept in touch more through cards than anything! It makes me smile to think of all our good times together, and I’m grateful that we could be there to console one another when we lost a close friend in an auto accident. Our friendship was cemented by a shared history, and it’s a bond that will never be broken.” (🤔 Now there’s a card!)
“Bun said that, when she opened the ‘kids together’ birthday card last week, she burst out laughing because it was so true,” Toni said, so pleased with her perfect-card find. “Like it was yesterday, I remember my dad walking me down the street to Bunny’s house for her 3rd birthday party, where we first met. We should all be lucky enough to have a friendship with so much history behind it.”
Such a fun story that I would leave it there except I can’t resist sending you to Toni’s Cardie Profile. You’ll see that Bunny’s buddy looks as warm and bubbly as ever, with those amazing cheekbones and flattering pixie still serving her well. Friendship is a big thing … made up of so many little things! Thanks for sharing, Toni. Enjoy the weekend, everyone.
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
October 7, 2022 — It was as if Cardie Toni Hoepf knew we wanted to show you this card today and took it upon herself to tell us a great story to go with it! 🤩
From my mailbox Wednesday night, I pulled out our signature sage envelope and smiled at the sight of Toni’s return address and ubiquitous OSU sticker. Inside, she’d penned a thoughtful message saying she was glad to see that Miami came through Ian unscathed, and then added a “PS: I just mailed one of your new cards to an old friend. It was the ‘kids together’ card. So perfect!
“I was invited to Bunny’s 3rd birthday party soon after my family had moved to her neighborhood,” Toni’s note went on to explain, “and we’ve been friends ever since! We were born 10 days apart, in October of ‘54. Friendship like ours is a gift!”
Thinking that, to nurture a relationship over 65 years, Toni must know well that “Friendship is a big thing … made up of so many little things.” So I quick emailed her yesterday morning to ask her to please tell us more. Wow, what a great memory — and memories — this Cardie has!
She replied, “Bun and I grew up on a street of young families packed with kids. We spent so much time together playing at one another’s houses or running around outside, we pretty much only came home for meals! I can still see us roller skating around my back patio using the clothesline to make the turn, or sitting at the picnic table under the shade tree making doll clothes with scraps of fabric.” 
“Just for giggles,” Toni said, “I’ve attached a photo of the neighborhood gang. That’s me on the right in the striped pants, and Bun is sitting in front of me. As you can see, pixies were the haircut of our youth!
“Since then,” Toni said, “we’ve just always been there for each other, and we cherish our long friendship. We’ve kept in touch more through cards than anything! It makes me smile to think of all our good times together, and I’m grateful that we could be there to console one another when we lost a close friend in an auto accident. Our friendship was cemented by a shared history, and it’s a bond that will never be broken.” (🤔 Now there’s a card!)
“Bun said that, when she opened the ‘kids together’ birthday card last week, she burst out laughing because it was so true,” Toni said, so pleased with her perfect-card find. “Like it was yesterday, I remember my dad walking me down the street to Bunny’s house for her 3rd birthday party, where we first met. We should all be lucky enough to have a friendship with so much history behind it.”
Such a fun story that I would leave it there except I can’t resist sending you to Toni’s Cardie Profile. You’ll see that Bunny’s buddy looks as warm and bubbly as ever, with those amazing cheekbones and flattering pixie still serving her well. Friendship is a big thing … made up of so many little things! Thanks for sharing, Toni. Enjoy the weekend, everyone.
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
Cardthartic could never offer too many friendship cards to suit me! I have several lifelong friends who enjoy “real mail” as much as I do, Then there are a few newer friends, acquired since our move from Atlanta, GA to Birmingham, Alabama in 2015. My personal favorite card for these recent blessings in my life is the one with words “some people you’ve known your whole life . . . others you just wish you had.”
Oh my goodness, reading about Toni & Bunny was like seeing my lifelong friendship with Candy all over again. Even more ironic, my brothers always called me Bunny. My dad once told me I got that nickname because my dad called me honeybun. Of course as brothers will do, bunny became nubnub which became chubby nubnub. That would fit now but as a little girl I was skinny! I always enjoy reflecting on the friendship Candy & I share so thank you for Toni’s story.
Wonderful story! Thanks for sharing!