The Gift That Keeps on Giving
It started innocently enough. In 1983, I sent out
Christmas cards for the first time. I had graduated from college the previous
spring, and some might remember a big recession and slim job prospects for a
newly minted grad with a liberal arts degree. I was living in Iowa City,
working at a day care center, without benefits and not much salary – a very
hand-to-mouth existence. I needed a “real job” to make enough to meet my
student loan obligations. On the card I sent to my parents, I wrote, “a new
year too, maybe I'll even find a job.” In the next year, I did find a “real
job” and moved to Minneapolis. In 1984, my Mom sent the same card back with
“you did!”
Well, that very same card has been traveling between Iowa
and Minnesota ever since. The card morphed into two, had paper taped to the
back and now travels with a note pad for the current year's sentiments. I have
no words to describe how much this card means to me. Twenty nine years
represent a lot of life. We each tear up when we read over what we have written
to each other over the years. We have had great joy, great sorrow, challenging
times, joyful times. We both have admitted to each other that the card is
stored in our respective safes during the year we keep it. The card is
incredibly important to both of us.
As some of you may remember from my earlier stints as a
stand-in on Sara's blog, I am one of the 10 Nagle children that grew up in Sara
and Matt's house. Yep, my parents raised 10. My Mom has done amazing things in
her life. Something truly remarkable is that she manages to have a unique
relationship with each of us. About 15 years ago, I was telling some friends
about the traveling Christmas card. A friend asked me if my Mom has traveling
cards with any of my siblings. The question prompted me to ask my Mom. “No” she
told me, “only you.”
Something so simple and inexpensive has grown
exponentially. An offhand comment about finding a job sparked a decades-long
tradition that brings laughter, tears and closeness between my Mom and I in
ways that would be next to impossible to duplicate any other way. Some things
in life are genuinely amazing. This card is one of them. It is truly a gift
that keeps on giving.
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| Therese and her mom |
