Thursday Threesome

Title: ::Surprises in the Mail::

Onesome: Surprises-- Hey, do you like surprises? ...and what kinds? Birthday parties, dinners out? ...or are you one of those people who absolutely has to know what's going on before it happens?

I don’t really like surprises that much, honestly. Life is surprising enough (and not always in a good way) to add engineered surprises to it. Having said that, both baby showers that were done for me were surprises and they were fabulous. And I can roll with a change of plans easily, as long as I’m aware that it could happen: for instance, you have to expect some upset when you travel, because something always goes wrong. But yes, generally, I like having a plan. And I like sticking with it.

Twosome: in the-- nick of time: How do you keep track of birthdays and anniversaries and events you need to remember but only occur once a year? ...and where is your bailout place for cards and such when you've cut things a little too close?

Last first: Factory Card Outlet.

I have a list of all the birthdays on every calendar, and I remember most of them anyway. My brain does well with this kind of memory retention, but this year I’ve gone almost completely card-free. Not even ecards. I used to be much better about sending cards out, but life has gotten completely out of hand. I think what I’m going to have to do is set aside the first Sunday of every month next year and do ALL UPCOMING cards at once: buy them, sign / address / stamp them, and put them in my car to be doled out as the dates get closer. Sound like a plan?

Threesome: Mail-- Mail Call! Did anything interesting show up lately besides the bills? ...and do letters and cards still make it to your place or have email and ecards taken it all over? Inquiring minds and all that...

We got a letter Tuesday from People to People International inviting Sparky on a 2-week exchange trip next year to England and France. Pretty cool-sounding, but I’m not getting my hopes up; it probably costs an arm and at least one internal organ. We’ll see. He doesn’t know about it yet.

We still get mostly paper cards at holidays and birthdays. I still send mostly paper cards (but see above). So November thru early February is prime mail time at our house!

RE Ecards: I like their immediacy, but I’d really prefer to get a paper card. I think this is why:

When I was a kid, I was given my parents' old bedroom set to use. In the bottom drawer of the (huge) bureau were all the leftovers from the shower held for my mom when she was expecting me. I was the fifth kid, but I am ten years younger than my next-youngest sibling, so they had already gotten rid of all the baby stuff when my imminent appearance was announced. Along with all the shower-game papers were the congratulatory cards, with gifts noted on the back of each card. And there were birthday cards from my first three of four birthdays signed by relatives and family friends I barely knew or had never met.

I used to get all this stuff out at least once a year, usually much more often, and just go through it, item by item, looking at the funny pictures Grandma had drawn and Great-Aunt Florentine’s fabulously beautiful but unreadable signature. I still have some of the gifts that were given to Mom for me (blankets and an outfit), but I have no clear idea of what happened to the cards and papers. It’s a shame I lost track of them. I doubt I ever told Mom what they meant to me so she may have thrown them out while I was in college. But they have stayed in my memory and my heart. My mother always (ALWAYS) saying, “You were a surprise, but not a mistake!” Between the cards and this reassurance from Mom, even at the lowest points of my childhood—and of course there were some—I always knew I was loved.