Card Competition

Before Mom's birthday, I thought long and hard about an appropriate gift to give her. It's gotten rather tricky. She doesn't really express a want or need for anything, and she doesn't really have much for hobbies any more. So, this year I decided to do something a little different - I decided to send her a stack of birthday cards. Who wouldn't want to open the mailbox to find a large pile of birthday greetings, right?

And then it occured to me. The idea was not really mine. It was originally Mom's.

About 20 years ago, she sent my Uncle, her brother, maybe 30 birthday cards for his birthday. My Uncle Doc was a teacher for the Department of Defense - he taught on Army bases all over the world. He was an extraordinary man that had an extraordinary life. But, in the midst of all of his global adventures, every summer he came back to Ely, Minnesota to take care of my Granny and her house. My Granny has been a widow since her late 40's and my Uncle was a very dutiful and responsible son.

Every July Granny would receive a handful of birthday cards from friends and relatives and she'd proudly display them on top of her television. They would remain there until August, my Uncle's birthday, when his birthday cards would arrive. She'd take her cards down and display my Uncle's much smaller collection. My Uncle confessed to my Mom that he couldn't help but feel like this was like a competition to my Granny and he was losing. He knew the whole thing was rather silly, but my Granny has been known to be rather "silly" at times.

So, for his next birthday, Mom made certain that her brother won the birthday card battle. We sent him more cards than would fit on top of the television. My Uncle's birthday cards kicked Granny's birthday cards' little flat asses.

And that was the kind of thing Mom did all the time. She didn't send one birthday card, she sent 30. She didn't buy 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, she bought 20. She was constantly going out of her way to make other people feel good. Mom was a giver.

And there are times when Mom sneaks into my life unexpectedly. I'll find myself pursing my lips when I write like Mom did, or cursing at other drivers like she did, or even sending out stacks of birthday cards. I don't fear turning into my Mom. I can only hope that I will be more like her.