All of the above are fine with me. However, something that I will never stop mailing are sympathy cards. Until you receive a card during one of the hardest times in your life, you will never understand how much a card can mean. Holding something in your hand and rereading it over the period of a few weeks can help the healing process. Seeing a small note written at the bottom or just someone's name can make you feel that someone understands what you are going through. I can remember my Aunt Bennie asking for stamps and boxes of cards for her birthday and Christmas so that she could send them to her friends. I never understood why she didn't want something for herself since she was on a fixed income and couldn't buy a lot of things like clothes or books, etc.. I now know the good feeling she got when someone would tell her that her card meant a lot to them.
When my father passed away several years ago, we had a spray made with 7 dozen red roses. One for each of us children, the 3 children-in-laws and my mom. Roses were my dad's favorite flower and since it was Christmas we chose red. About a week later, I received a card from 2 very dear friends of ours with a poem about a rose. I am sure that this couple had looked for just the right card to send since they had seen the flower arrangement. 20 years later when my mom passed, I remembered the card and asked to have the poem printed on her memorial program.
We will always treasure the cards received after the passing of our parents. They are tucked away, in a box in our attic and forever in our hearts.
The Rose Still Blooms
A rose once grew where all could see
Sheltered beside a garden wall,
And as the days passed swiftly by
It spreads its branches, straight and tall.
One day a beam of light shown through
A crevice had opened wide,
The rose bent gently toward its warmth
Then passed beyond to the other side.
Now, you who deeply feel its loss
Be comforted-the rose blooms there,
Its beauty even greater now
Nurtured by God's own care.
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