Inland, Dreaming of Waves

Card me, I want to feel young

What more is there to say? My sister sent me this card years ago.

I love getting and giving cards. I have two big plastic boxes full of cards that people have sent me. I even have letters that I sent my parents that I found in a trunk in my father's house.

One of my favorite cards is one Todd gave me years ago. It features a boy and girl shivering in the surf and says on the inside, "I waded my whole life for you." I liked it so much that the next time I saw it in Target, I bought it and gave it to him.

I still have cards from one of my college boyfriends because he wrote such wonderful stories in them. Here's a sample:

"It's Monday night and I'm sitting in my room all packed and listening to my new Creedence Clearwater Revival tape and missing you more than I thought I would. I guess I didn't have a fixed amount of 'missing you' in mind, but I wish to hell you were with me."

Isn't that just so Beat? I must have broken up with this guy 4 or 5 times before we called it quits. He always seemed to withdraw after we had sex (sorry, I just couldn't think of a better way to word it). I never felt I got enough from him, and he once wrote a song in which he said, "I gave her my heart, but she wanted my soul."

Oh my.

"I'll suck your soul!"

"Suck this, bitch!"

That's from my favorite horror movie. And believe me, there aren't many of them. I tend to believe horror films too much to enjoy watching them. I had a friend in high school who would drag me to them and then laugh at me hiding my face. Yes, she really was my best friend.

Somedays I go through my box of cards and read parts of my past. My favorites are those from my mother, who died in December 1992. I'm looking now at a card with the Country Club Plaza on the front, all done up in snow and Christmas lights. When you're driving down Ward Parkway to the Plaza between Thanksgiving and New Year's, it looks as if the buildings are hanging on air. They used to have KC stores there--Woolf Brothers and Harzfeld's--but Woolf Bros. went out of business and Harzfeld's got bought by a company that got bought. Mergers have so improved our lives, haven't they?

But I digress.

The card's from December 1982, when I was in England for my junior year. My mother wrote: "I love your new hairdo" [it was quite poofy] ... We have to get ready for Patrick and Rosie's arrival--baby bed, put away all dangerous items, etc." [My niece Rosie is married; Patrick's finishing college.]

"The birdfeeding is paying off. When I looked out this morning, there were 8 bluejays, 2 male cardinals, countless sparrows, some juncos, a mourning dove, and 3 squirrels (not birds)."

I knew I got the birdwatching gene from somewhere. Thanks, Mom!

posted by Price of Silence @ 10:31 PM