It all started with a greeting card......

Thirty-seven years ago I met Glen Gray.  I was eighteen.  We met....he liked me....I liked him.  He called me and asked me to go out with him and a group of friends for New Year's Eve to celebrate the year 1978.  He left for Florida to spend Christmas with his sister and brother with his father.  He had lost his mom in 1976.  I received a Greeting Card with a handwritten letter.  I knew I had met someone very special.
So much has happened and changed in thirty-seven years as far as communicating and how we meet people.  If I was my children's age would this have happened or would we have been texting back and forth.  Would I have that to share now so many years later? I made a copy of this letter and gave it to my nephew this year because a lot of it was about him and his birth.
Today I sit writing this instead of addressing Christmas cards to my family and  friends.  Why?  I think it is because of facebook.  I can share sentiments, feelings, thoughts, pictures all with a press of button and not just reach one person, but 500 people at the same time and see a reaction instantly.  It is amazing.  I usually send photo cards and several times looked through our pictures to pick one and I have shared them on facebook already, so why should I send them?  I love to get photo cards and the go on my fridge and stay there for the rest of the year.  The last few years my days are so full I save all my cards to open on Christmas day.  This year....is just so different.  Hopefully on Monday on my day off I will take some time and fill out some cards to send.....but, if I don't.....it's ok.  Or is it?
I own a greeting card store after all.  But, this year has been different.  I didn't buy any cards for the store this year. I had the intention to, but we really didn't make that much money as we hoped this summer to put in any orders.  My inventory was all ruined last year after a water main break from a frozen pipe last January.
So looking to the year 2015 I am looking to the future and wondering what to do to infuse some new life into my heart and my business.  So, instead of taking my vacations to rest and get inspired.  I am taking my time off from work to put my heart and soul back into my business.  I have had several goals since starting my business and it has been one step up and two steps back for the last five years of being in business.  I still need to keep my job, but in order for my business to grow it needs my attention.  So, I am starting to set realistic goals and I may need some help.  I want to start a campaign of the IMPORTANCE of greeting cards.  I truly feel they are the best form of expression and art that every person can use to share their feelings.  I remember when I went to college I didn't have two pennies to rub together.  I spent a lot of time finding cards to send Glen, friends and family.  As I got more into college my funds ran dryer and dryer, but that didn't stop me.  I would make my own cards and send them to Glen.
So, I still am making my own cards, but this year I am looking forward to figuring out a way to order greeting cards from different companies again and infuse some life into the greeting card part of our business.  I am going to start by taking the week off before Valentine's day and actually fulfill a dream and be the Esther Howland I want to be.  I am looking forward to 2015 and  I am ready to do the cha-cha of life!