I keep some. I used to put cards my husband gave me in the back of a desk drawer-- sort of randomly. Now that he’s been gone for 20 years, I’m so glad I did.
I don’t have any kids and can get a little wistful when my friends start talking about what their kids and grandkids did/are doing for Mother’s Day. I dated a guy years ago whom I met the year his twin daughters started high school. He and wife divorced; the girls lived with their mom, but really close by. I went with him and them through their high school years, band concerts, plays, football games (one was in the band), holidays, picking them up from school, through proms and graduation. Even though they were teens, I used to fix them Easter baskets every year with nail polishes, hair doo-dads, candy, girl-type-trash. He and I made sure we were always home on Sunday evenings for a family dinner. They were always and still are very close to their actual mom, but it was fun being kind of a stand-in mom figure for those few years.
One year they gave me a Mother’s Day card, the one and only one that I’ve ever gotten in my 71 years. It made me cry, and it’s making me cry now to think of it-- that was about 14 years ago. They wrote in it, “We don’t know what we would do without you.” I saved it and it’s up on my mantelpiece where it will stay. I treasure it. They’re in their 30s now and live away. I’m not in touch with their dad, but I still send them amazon cards on their birthdays.
I hate cards. My parents continually have to remind me to actually open the cards they give me before I throw them out because there is money or gift cards in them. At most I’ll try and be polite, read the crappy glurge and give the person who gave it to me a smile before I throw it out. I will put up christmas cards that have the family’s picture on them for a couple of weeks everything else goes straight in the trash.
I keep the cards Ms. P gives me. Recently, while looking for something else, I came upon the birthday card Ms. P gave me when we’d only known each other a few weeks. It said something like “I’m looking forward to seeing what happens between us.” Almost 25 years later, it’s still happening. I’ve also kept a lot of the homemade cards students have given me over the years. When I found the card from Ms. P I found cards from kids who are college age now.
I don’t believe I still have any cards that have ever been sent to me.
My mother keeps a very special Mother’s Day card from me, prominently displayed on her bedside wall. It has a picture of a red mother cat snuggling with her kitten. Every now and then, I point to the mother cat and say, “That’s you,” and then to the kitten and say, “That’s me.”
I really only send cards for Christmas (I always make my own) and birthdays of a few close friends/relatives. Plus, mother’s day when my Mum was still alive.
I’m always happy to get cards, but I don’t save them; the gesture’s nice but I’m drowning in stuff as it is.
My artistic hobby is creating greeting cards with rubber stamps and ink. I participate in a monthly card exchange and send out cards randomly to friends. So yes, I like cards. You all, however, are on the list
One year a co-worker surprised some of us with cards. I saved it and may still have it…she and her husband made these. I don’t know the entire process, but step 1 was “Make the paper.” The worked in rose petals and such. It was very cool.
I don’t much care for cards because a tree died for something that’s going to have a very brief use. Plus, the cost is out of whack.
