Two Greeting Cards

Simple expressions of seasonal joy, appreciated by the recipient

The most recent seasonal greeting card received at my house. Photo: Steve Newvine

I’m a big fan of greeting cards.

I have fond memories of my mother sending cards for birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and Thanksgiving. She’d buy most of them from the card rack at the local store in my home town.

In my college years, I grew to appreciate cards from home that would arrive at my dormitory mailbox.

Mom kept on sending them through my adult years. My dad, brother, and sister continue to do the same thing.

In a day and age of email greetings and Facebook birthday wishes, the card, especially with a few words written on the inside, carries a lot of good feelings for me.

A variety of cards that will be sent from our house in the coming months. Photo: Steve Newvine

Talking about greeting cards with a friend at the coffee shop the other day reminded me of two particular cards and how each helped me through a couple of rough spots in my life.

In my early years as a working professional, I had been on the job for several months. I thought I was doing rather well when my boss called me into his office.

“We’re going to make some changes that involve you,” was how he started the conversation.

I walked out of the office with something he called a promotion and what I called a new area of responsibility.

It was a low point in the early part of my career. Other than my wife, I only shared my disappointment with one close friend. It was in late April when I called to tell him about my plight.

A week later, a Mother’s Day card arrived in my mail. It was from my friend. On the inside of the card he wrote “I got this for my Mom, but I think you need it more than she does right now.”

Those were the perfect words to say to a friend, and here I am nearly forty years later thinking about that day.

As things turned out, my new duties led to a very fruitful career path in the management ranks. It was indeed one of the best things that ever happened to me professionally.

I have my wife to thank for this family card file that helps us keep track of birthdays, anniversaries, and other special occasions. Photo: Steve Newvine

Flash forward to thirty-plus years later where I found myself choosing just the right birthday card to send to another friend.

As mentioned earlier, cards are pretty important to me. I found the perfect card to mail my friend in a couple of months for his birthday.

One month later, I almost forgot about the card when I reviewed some email while away on vacation with my family. There was a message from someone I did not recognize.

The subject line displayed my friend’s name.

I read about the unexpected passing of my friend in an email message. I was in shock. I immediately called his family to express my condolences.

After hanging up the phone, I remembered that birthday card I had so carefully chosen for his special day. Upon my return from vacation, I pulled out that card, wrote my reflections about my friend, and sent it to his family.

Cards for every occasion. Photo: Steve Newvine

Those two cards were special because they were for a specific occasion.

What made them even more meaningful is not what was depicted on the card, but rather the handwritten comments inside.

One was received and remembered.

The other was sent and provided an outlet to let a family know how I felt about the loss of their son, my good friend.

So as you can see, I’m a big fan of greeting cards.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.  

He will soon publish Course Corrections, a book about his experiences with golf.