A Very Special Birthday Card

Marge and Lorene were next door neighbors. They were homemakers raising their children side by side in the 1950s. A fence separated their tiny yards and each year Lorene planted morning glory seeds along the fence so by mid summer that chain link fence was covered in beautiful blue flowers. Heavenly blue to be exact. Through the years many neighborly conversations took place over that fence. Often as they hung their wash on the backyard clothesline these two women would chat with each other while holding babies on their hips and pinning clothes to the line. Once the clothes were in place and gently swaying to and fro in the warm summer sunshine the ladies would often retreat to one or the other of their kitchens to share a cup of coffee as they continued their conversation.

In February of 1956 Marge sent her friend Lorene a birthday card.

Lorene liked the card so well that come October she crossed off Marge's name and wrote her name and sent it back to Marge ~ just to be funny. They each got a little laugh out of that.

Apparently Marge liked the idea so the following February she did the same thing and sent the card back to Lorene.

It became a tradition that they kept up for many years. In fact so many that the card became full and they started a second card.

When Lorene moved away the card continued to travel across the states twice a year. Often after the signature a short sentence would follow. It might be a child's marriage, a new grandchild, a husband going to heaven and eventually a second husband joining the first husband. Year after year the card continued.

Many years later Lorene developed dementia and soon reached a point where many things were being misplaced or mysteriously disappearing, but somehow the card was never misplaced. The handwriting changed and the decline was becoming evident. Marge felt sad, but continued to send the card and also include a letter of care and concern to her dear friend.

Fifty three years later the card is in Lorene's possession. As her daughter I so wanted her to be able to return it to Marge on her October 17th birthday. Even though she had reached a point where she could no longer write very much, I thought I might be able to at least get her signature. Sadly, it wasn't to be. My dear mother began to decline rapidly in the last week and it was evident that there would be no signature this year. I signed it on her behalf and included a good old fashioned snail mail letter to our former neighbor, Marge explaining the situation.

I spent a good portion of the weekend at my mom's side as she became weaker. Yesterday the hospice nurse informed me that the end was near . Mom is now at peace. Life will never be the same without her, but I was able to be with her until the end. We all had a chance to pay our respects and tell her we love her one last time. For that I am grateful.

And now these three remain:

Faith, Hope and Love,

But the greatest of these is Love.

1 Corinthians 13:13