I hate greeting cards. Even the nice, microproduced ones (i.e. hand-screenprinted) fail to say what you want them to. And I've been doing an awful lot of card shopping.
I had wrote a message for Alycia about a week ago here. Her dad passed away very unexpectedly. She left for Minnesota, and I haven't gotten any word on how she's doing. I figure a card might be some small gesture--I don't know what other gestures can be appropriate. I mean, I consider her to be a good friend, and I've actually met her dad once. That was a fun night. He bought Frank, Jake, and I a couple rounds of drinks at Nicks, and Shirley Temples for Matt and Alycia. But then again, I don't want to smother her with sympathy and healing and all that Oprah crap. She's not the type to go for that. And of course all the card shop had were cards with butterflies and flowers and sappy messages. Finally I settled for a Sorry card. As in, I'm sorry for your loss...
My grandma had a stroke this week. Luckily, it seems to have been a less serious stroke--she's still able to walk and understand language and everything. But her speech is considerably slowed. Poor woman. She was always a chatterbox, and a smart chatterbox no less. She still understands speech, she just has a hard time putting the words together for herself (Hey, that sounds kind of like me). Plus, she was supposed to take a cruise through Northern Europe with my parents in a couple weeks, a plan that may have to be scrapped, at least on her end.
Anyway, all the card there were for people with colds and fevers or tonsilectomies. Finally, I found one that said, May your light shine brightly again soon or something to that effect.
My mom's birthday is Sunday. She is turning 48. My little sister, Frank's little brother and my cousin are all graduating in a week. I need to thank all those kind enough to recognize my graduation...At least those sorts of card are easier to shop for.