SEP 16, 2018 – It was funny, when the Greeting Card Association asked us to join in promoting national “Thinking of You Week” Sept 24-30, I heard myself insisting, “Our Cardies don’t need a special week to remind them to be thoughtful and reach out. They’re at it all the time!” :)
Case in point: One recent Sunday, Amy Beamer Murray emailed us with the pic of our fixtures you see below. “Imagine my delight,” she wrote, “in finding the good work of the Cardthartic team on display at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach, DE, where I’m vacationing. I’ll admit that, when I packed, I included a few of your birthday cards to send to friends from the beach … I usually do my cards for the week early Sunday morning, and a good Cardie doesn’t let vacation get in the way!”
How thoughtful is that?! And inspiring, too. Amy’s Sunday Card-Sending Ritual sounded like a great one to me; actual scheduled time to sit, breathe and reconnect — with those I love, as well as my self (not that I don’t love myself, but that’s another story :) Immediate gratification seeker that I am, I determined Saturday mornings would be my Card-Sending Ritual time, as then USPS could get those cards on their way the same day. :) The very next Saturday, I took great pleasure (thank you, Amy) in sending about 15 cards. And, crazy!, already by end-of-day Monday, a half dozen recipients had acknowledged their receipt. So gratifying … let me share with you the responses of the first three.
Nearly 95, Hannlis lives well on her own just a block away and, with pleasure, I walk her and a beach chair down to the shore almost daily. In this card, I reiterated how much her friendship means to me. Well, minutes after the mail dropped through the slot in her door mid-day Monday, she called to exclaim, “My dear, I just received the loveliest card, and I want to say Thank You Thank You Thank You!” So sweet, I could hear the tears in her voice as she went on to say, “You are always doing so much for me, that it made me feel Wonderful to read that you get something from our friendship, too. I want to contribute, and it pleases me to know I’m holding up my end. Thank you!” What a touching thing to say, eh?
Great friend Liza lives three buildings down, here on Miami Beach; we met through our dogs years ago. I hoped this card would gently acknowledge her gut-wrenching news, that cancer is spreading in her beloved Bandit. The card in its entirety reads, “We may want them with us forever, but we know when it’s their time to go sleep with the angels.” Ugh, how hard it will be to let him go. After reading her card, Liza sent a text with this pic of her and Bandito (so named because he stole her heart :) “Thanks for your loving understanding and support,” read her message. “I value your positive energy and strength, and that is what I’m striving for.” How wonderful that Liza could get so much from what just took me a little love, two minutes and a stamp.
The third recipient, Susan was quick to call from her home in Cleveland to relay, “I loved your card, and your timing was perfect. You couldn’t know it, but this is the anniversary of Mom’s death, so you really lifted my spirits today.” I said, “I’m so glad it arrived when it did then. And, wow,” I added, “that card was mailed Saturday, so USPS sure hustled to get it from Miami to Cleveland in a day?!?” Susan giggled and said, “It’s a God thing! You did your part, then He saw to it that I received the card exactly when I needed it most.” :)
Ok, so now I’m thinking the GCA may be on to something with its “Thinking of You Week.” If all of us who truly know the joys of card-sending take that week and kick it up a notch, all the more people will experience just how good a little kindness-on-paper feels! At Cardthartic, we’re all for that, so how about this: Between now and the end of Thinking of You Week, Sept 30th, your respective Fairy Cardmothers will see to it that all the cards you order arrive with envelopes that are already stamped. That will save your thoughtful self time and money to devote elsewhere. Cool. Hehe, maybe we’ll rename it Thinking of YOU Week.
You know, wise Amy Beamer Murray added a PS to that Sunday email, and it’s a message that lovingly applies to you, too: “Keep doing what you do,” she said. “Lord knows, the world needs it!” Thanks for the reminder, inspiring Amy. And, to all Cardies everywhere, happy card-sending.
