When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best

Before having kids, I used to go to my local Hallmark store and browse the selection of cards.  It seemed there was always SOMEONE who could benefit from a little Hallmark cheer.  I love cards.  LOVE them… and prior to having kids I was pretty good about buying and sending them.

Somehow though bringing 2, then 3, now 4 active kids into a card store lost its appeal… something about them reaching out of their strollers and pulling card after card onto the floor while I was trying to find that perfect card made it loose its charm. 

Gone are the days I peruse the card store for fun. 

Now I seem to avoid it at all costs. 

Yesterday as my children eagerly accosted me with their cards, I had an epiphany.  Mothers have been saying it for years, but ya know as a kid, you never fully believe them. 

Hallmark no longer has the market on the very best cards. 

Nothing, and I mean, N-O-T-H-I-N-G holds a candle to a hand written card from your child. 

The love just oozes off of the crayon filled pages.  And the presentation?  Presentation really is everything… As they eagerly scrambled onto my bed each of the pushing their pictures and cards closer to my face and telling me in their excited voices all about the pictures they drew, I knew I couldn’t feel more loved and cherished.   I could tell with their enthusiasm how hard they worked to make a picture for me.  I knew that their cards more wore than scribbles on a page… they poured themselves into those pieces of art.

From my 3 yr old:

From my 5 yr old:

From my 7 yr old:

And while my almost 1 year old didn’t give me a card, he did crawl across my bed and onto my lap with a huge smile on his face.  So, I felt the love.

Breakfast in bed and dinner out were both very nice, but my favorite part of the day was when my kids bounded into my room and smothered me with their handwritten pictures.  They truly cared to give me the very best…a piece of themselves.