Situation: My Nana is staying in a rehabilitation facility until she recovers well enough to return home, and that day can’t come soon enough for her
Challenge: Send a little bit of sunshine her way every day to make it easier for her to deal with the situation
I ruled out flowers because they are expensive to send one time, much less every day. New plan! Picked up a bunch of random greeting cards and postcards from SCRAP. Cards are 10 cents each, and envelopes are a nickel each. However, finding envelopes that are the right size to match the cards is time consuming and frustrating, so I picked up a stack of collage paper at a penny a sheet. I luckily stumbled on pages from a desconstructed book on Sunflowers, which would really help me send a bit of sunshine her way. Making envelopes is a cinch. It took maybe an hour to make enough envelopes to go with all of the cards I bought.
I started signing cards and writing crazy things in them. One of them I signed from her dog. One I signed from all of her grandkids and their families. Another one wished her Happy Administrative Assistant’s Day just for the heck of it. Lots of them contained cute animals, silly jokes, or pretty flowers. I made address labels on my printer, slapped ’em on, and added postage. On the postcards, I told fantastical tales about going over waterfalls in barrels or running a pizza delivery service in Italy.
Four went in the mail the first day. Anywhere from one to three cards went into the mail each day for a week. Some were sent from home, and others dropped into the mailbox near work. Then I waited.
She thanked me for the first day of cards with, “Do you believe I got 4 cards from you in one day?”
Every day I spoke with her after that she seemed tickled to be getting mail, and apparently her nurses are teasing her about being so popular. When I spoke with her this morning, she said, “I have gotten nine cards from you so far! I have run out of room for them on the windowsill, and I think they will need to go on the bulletin board next. They make me smile.”
Achievement unlocked!!!!
I didn’t tell her that I picked up another batch of cards, envelopes, and collage paper after my volunteer shift at SCRAP yesterday, so more are coming! My objective is to have a ready stash of sealed cards that I can trickle into the mail every day. As she starts to get better and is ready to go home, I will just change the address on the cards so she will continue to get them. With a couple hours prep work and minimal out of pocket cost, her mailbox will be overwhelmed but she’ll know I am thinking about her.
Jenn Likes to Make Things 