Who writes greeting cards, anyway?
Published 3:11 pm Saturday, April 11, 2009
My sister Kathryn turns 40 this month, and her husband is throwing her a birthday wine and dinner party for many of her friends and family. She’s pretty much a perfect sister, as are my other two, and I’m not just saying that because she might read this column.
Kathryn has accomplished a great deal in life. She has an amazing husband and son, and she spends her days working to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis, a disease that recently took the life of one of her best friends.
She is also thoughtful and funny and when I was about two decades younger, took me school clothes shopping and to Disneyland.
She also gave a number one answer when the Richards family appeared on Family Feud in 1990.
On Thursday night, I went to find a birthday card for her and failed miserably.
I braved the Easter aisles, complete with more flavors of Peeps than colors on the rainbow, to try and find a birthday card aimed “for a sister from a brother.”
Who writes these things anyway?
Every one of the “for my sister” cards was printed in bright pink or purple with words such as “it’s been great being sisters.”
Apparently, there are no such things as guys having sisters in the greeting card world.
You would think an industry that can somehow get a greeting card to play music — the Star Wars Theme, the Chicken Dance — could figure out a way to write cards for brothers buying them for their sisters.
This weekend I will attend Kathyrn’s birthday party and will have to settle on a semi generic greeting card to go along with her gift.
It’s hardly a fair trade for all of the ways she’s inspired me to become a better person and all the times she’s picked up the phone and simply said, “Dude, what’s up?”
My card and gift will have to do though, and I will continue to strive to be as good of a brother as I can.
And perhaps this column just might help too.