I just moved my parents from their home of 35 years to an apartment in a retirement community. It was a challenge to choose what to keep and what to toss since space in their new place was limited. As I went through the drawers and closets I was surprised to see what my parents had elected to keep all of those years. There was the family china, crystal and silverware of course, but also every table cloth and placemat ever received. I found boxes of 10 year old chocolate that were probably gifts from others and that I was really tempted to taste! I also discovered my mom must have an obsession with colorful paper cocktail and luncheon size napkins.
One very special treasure was a collection of greeting cards. Yes, there tucked away in a closet was just about every birthday card, holiday card, thank you card and of course, letter, I had ever written. Who knew these would take on such value. Or, is tossing greeting cards with hand written notes just something no one knows when to let go of? It was fun to look through these cards with my parents and relive some of these snapshots in time from the pass. There were thank you cards from when mom helped me when my babies were born and birthday cards from when my dad was much younger. There were family Christmas cards with group pictures and letters from college asking for more money.
It doesn’t seem likely that I’ll be sitting down with my parents to go through saved emails but the memories and joy in sifting through this collection of personal greeting cards with them was an afternoon well spent. Wouldn’t you agree that greeting cards are special personal treasures?