It's In The Cards

I spent about 2 hours in a mall yesterday. Not exactly a new experience, I realize. It is just your average mall - with the various department stores and the food court and the teeny-bopper places, etc. I was there to get a new battery for my watch and, knowing I'd need to wait for the replacement to be installed, I wandered into the card store.

Now I can spend money with the very best of 'em. If I'm in the right mood and properly motivated ... I've gotten calls from my bank in the past wondering if it was really possible to visit, shop, and buy in 8 different stores in 25 minutes. (Possible? Hell yes, it's possible. I would hit the 9th too but I decided to get a hot chocolate instead.)

But card shops? Oh man - that's a whole 'nuther kind of addiction for me. How bad is it? I use cards as bookmarks. Cards that I bought because the photo on the front caught my eye. Because the saying was appropriate. Because I couldn't decide between these three cards and ah hell, just get all three. I have about four Mothers Day cards - right now in my collection - that are identical. Why would I do that? Because the card caught me so off-guard and was so damned funny that I bought the whole stack of 'em. My Mom gets a random non-May based "Mothers Day" card from me about twice a year. I even told her when I gave her the first card a couple of years ago - "I hope this card makes you giggle 'cause you're gonna be seeing it a LOT".

So I'm in the card shop - and I have Fathers Day and two birthdays to buy cards for. One could deduce that I walked out with three cards. Yeah, right. Oh, I found "thank you" cards and "just because" cards and "cool nieces" cards and ... geez. I'll be honest - if you have a birthday and you don't get two or more cards from me? Either I've run out of stamps or the selection was just awful.

OH - and that's another thing. Finding a sincere, touching, heartfelt card for Mothers Day is a snap - finding a funny one? Damn near impossible. Finding a funny Fathers Day card - no problem. Finding a sincere, touching, heartfelt one? Yeah - lots of luck.

It's strange - finding a sincere card for my parents birthdays just isn't usual for me. Maybe every fifth birthday, they'll get a "serious" card from me. That may reflect on how I communicate with them. Even with how serious things have been in the past ... five(?) years or so, we still laugh together more than anything else. But that clearly doesn't apply across the board.

As I write this, I'm reviewing some of the other cards that I purchased (specifically the ones for my guy), and we laugh with each other ALL DAY LONG and yet the cards I've set aside to give to him are "serious". So far. I'm sure more cards are in the future.