Dec. 17, 2021 — Happy Friday! Mid-week, a great Cardie (that’s redundant, I know!) reached out, frustrated that her Cardthartic order had not yet arrived … she’d counted on slipping cards in with all the gifts she hoped to mail the next day. A quick check confirmed that we’d met our standard 24-hour turnaround (whew!), meaning her order had left our Fulfillment Center in Illinois back on Dec 8th. USPS tracking showed us that the shipment had reached her local sorting center in Ohio eight days ago but, alas, is still “In transit, arriving late.” Then yesterday we all saw the headlines, “A flood of mail and online holiday purchases is overwhelming the U.S. shipping system. An estimated 6 million packages a day are stranded …”
Feeling for my postman, I made a point of acknowledging this conscientious guy by simply scribbling, “Appreciating you! Keep on!” in one of our Bless the Helpers note cards. Inside, a folded $20 bill peeked out between two back-to-back magnets: Remain Calm and Spread a Little Happiness Wherever You Go :) How must these essential workers feel, getting all the blame and none of the credit for delivering the volume they do every day?!
Post-postman, it was funny to hear our Product Manager John Bowman say that our Remain Calm magnet had dropped out of his backpack onto his home office floor the night before, landing face up as if to say “Read Me.”
John is somehow avoiding panic while toiling into the wee hours on our Big Book 2021, which we’d like to have handed off to the printer weeks ago :( Into the layout he’s placed 48 new cards + seven new boxed notes + 10 new magnets + four new art prints, all of which we’ll release in the coming weeks (yay!). John laughed, “It’s been months since I grabbed that magnet while walking through the Fulfillment Center one day. Intended for my own home fridge, I’d completely forgotten it was still in my bag. So for it to drop out and land up in that exact way at our most stressful time: the universe is definitely talking to me!”
John had no more told us about his magnet encounter than along came this wondrously relevant email from Contributing Cardie Mary Morini. In her ever-thoughtful way, she sensed we’d enjoy what Frank Bruni wrote on Dec. 16 in his last New York Times column before taking a six-week hiatus to finish a book. Way down near the end, I think he beautifully laid out some of what it takes to remain calm these intense days.
“I need to take a page from my own book,” he wrote, “and be more realistic about what I can and can’t bite off. I need to make sure that each day, or at least each week, isn’t so overstuffed with obligations that it’s bereft of two of life’s most precious commodities, spontaneity and serenity. Only when we’re freed from rigid plans and relentless toil do our minds wander to new places, new insights, new ideas,” he mused. “Only then do we exhale, surprised to realize how much breath we were holding in.”
So true. Enjoy your weekend, remaining calm and keeping things in perspective: if all our cards and holiday packages reach their ultimate destination a little late — if that’s the worst that happens to us — we’ll be just fine. If we are staying safe, happy and well, we are blessed. Which reminds me to remind you that we’re donating half of every dollar spent on magnets between now and year-end to Feeding America, the nation’s largest network of food banks. You’ll see our magnets here. Take good care.
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
Feeding America! Such a perfect cause and meaningful goal. Thanks cardthartic for being part of the true meaning of this special time of year.