Card shopping

I went to get a birthday card for my Dad and an anniversary card for my folks a couple of days ago. As always, this turned out to be a challenging exercise. For starters, most of the cards in your typical Carlton store are just appallingly ugly. To make matters worse, those few cards that pass the most lenient aesthetics test are almost always marred by either cloyingly sweet text or utter nonsense. The odd card that manages to passes both visual and mental inspection presents the final hurdle: they always look dangerously familiar, making you wonder if you got the same card last year.

This time, I almost made a fatal mistake when I picked a beautifully arranged anniversary card that was addressed to Mom and "Dad". I did a double-take when I saw the quotations around the word 'Dad' but quickly realized that I was browsing under the 'Mother and her husband' anniversary section. Yikes! Imagine Mom and Dad hanging that one out for all to see.

I had really wanted to deliver those cards in person this year, seeing as it's Mom and Dad's Silver Anniversary. But with my schedule in May, I would have a hard time justifying a one week holiday next month. So it looks like I'll just have to celebrate with them when they come out here in June.

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