Greeting Cards

My Confession this week...

I want to start this post by saying that it was inspired by sisters’ passing. The love we were given by the people around us made me think about people’s response to tragedy as well as happy events.

I think that sending a birthday/thank you/sympathy/congratulations card can mean a world of difference to the person receiving it and if I can make a person smile by just remembering them and sending a card, I will try to do it every time. 

My sisters’ passing last month got me thinking about all this. What is socially correct? When should cards be sent? When shouldn’t they? 

My family received several sympathy cards from friends in the days after my sisters’ death. My parents got cards from my mother-in-law and from my brother’s mother-in-law. My dad received cards from ex-co-workers who heard the news. I received a card from the workers in my unit. 

I think there are some people that are in positions that should have the extra touch of giving sympathy/birthday/etc cards when these events happen. When someday in the future I have employees under me I will try and make sure that I am aware of any big events in their lives and make sure that they know I am thinking of them. I will also do my best to treat them all equally. 

I received A LOT of condolences on-line via Facebook. This was very nice and I appreciated reading them. It really made me happy in the hours and days following my sisters’ death to see the messages pop up. However, a card in the regular mail would have meant a lot more. The idea that a person took the time to pick out a card means something to me. 

Maybe I’m being unfair. People are busy, they have other things going on and they don’t have time to stop at the market to pick up a card. Maybe I’m just grieving and feel like everything is unfair. 

I did not write this to offend anyone but instead to get it out of my head. It has been circling round and it has been bothering me.