A Sympathy Card for Hallmark

After 37 years in business, the Heritage Hallmark store in La Grange is closing on Oct. 5.

This strikes me as a particularly sad occasion for the city – a loss that makes the entire area a little less friendly.

Think about it. A greeting card store survives solely on people thinking about others – sending congratulations on big life events or sympathies during life’s struggles.

Of course there’s still plenty of other places now to buy cards locally (and that’s part of the business woes that killed the Hallmark store here), but there was something unique about that fact that La Grange had the only Hallmark store between Houston and Austin, between New Braunfels and College Station.

The upcoming closure has got me thinking a lot about greeting cards and the special nature of them.

My mom came across one such exceptional card just a few weeks ago when she was cleaning out a closet. 

There’s a simple picture of a blue and orange bird in a flowering tree on the front. Inside the otherwise blank card, is hand-written these words: 

“Jeffrey, Happy Birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Wick.”

They’ve both been dead for 20 years, but seeing that card got me thinking about great memories of them. 

But there was something else still in the card too – a crisp $5 bill.

I am still thinking long and hard about the special nature of that long-lost birthday gift and what I should do with it.

There’s one more special card I want to mention. 

It’s yellowing a bit now, but on the front the words “Glad Tidings” is still very clear as is the candy cane and holly arrangement next to the words.

Inside the card, the words, written by a typewriter, say “I hope you will enjoy keeping your special things in this old box which came from Germany”

The message is signed “S.C.” for Santa Claus, obviously.

It’s one of the last gifts I ever got from the big guy, and over the past 30 or so years, I’ve kept that card inside the small box, even as I filled it to the brim with  little special things accumulated over the years.

My kids are fascinated by that box – and its contents – and the card that set it all in motion.

They love (almost as much as I do) sitting around and hearing me tell old stories tied to the trinkets inside. 

Especially in this day and age, it’s always such a pleasant surprise to find a greeting card in the mailbox.

I’ve got a couple of siblings who are really good about sending birthday cards – and I wish I were better about it.

Actually, every December when I think about New Year’s resolutions, one I always aspire to do is gather a list of the birthdays of all my siblings, their spouses and their children (and in the extended Wick family that’s a massive number of folks) and send birthday cards throughout the year.

It’s always a resolution left unfulfilled. 

Maybe 2020 will be the year.

I do have one greeting card tradition of my own. 

Hallmark always had the perfect card for any occasion, but for family parties I often would give the most imperfect card.

I’d give Happy Bar Mitzvah cards for anniversaries and Congratulations on your Confirmation cards for birthdays. 

I always got a kick out of it and I like to think the guests of honor did too. 

Maybe they were just humoring weird Uncle Jeff.

My grandmother, Lydia Fietsam, had her own greeting card traditions. She would always send our kids birthday cards with pictures of animals on them and tape dimes to the eyes of the animals.

Our kids loved them.

My grandma is living a relaxing life now at Care Inn, so she doesn’t send out cards anymore.

She’s going to turn 103 in November.

Before it;s too late, I’m going to have to hurry over to Hallmark and pick out a really special birthday card for her.

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