TALES FROM THE BOBBI LAMA

One of the harder things a widow faces is learning to sign greeting cards as from just her. Buying a store-bought Christmas card is especially difficult for me since my late husband and I always made funny picture cards that usually reflected his naughty sense of humor. We always loved the responses in laughter and would get excited each year in the fall to think of new ideas relevant to the changes in our 54 years together. Now, buying a box of cards off of a shelf feels like so much less being sent, not to mention having to leave off “Love, Dad” or “Love, PopPop” which makes it harder. But, this year, I had a nice surprise.

I was in a Hallmark store browsing through rows and rows of shelves of boxed Christmas cards on a newly set-up display, reading one after the other and not impressed by any. I mentally talked to my late husband wishing he could help me find a card so I could feel like it was from him, too. As I did, a box tipped off the very bottom shelf of the display rack, tipping off and landing to rest on the toe of my right shoe. I was startled at first, as I looked down to see how that could have happened since no boxes were sticking out, and I hadn’t moved for quite a while…maybe five full minutes or so. As I picked up the box to return it to the shelf, I saw that it had a picture of a red cardinal sketched on the card inside. In all honesty, I was not that impressed by the card and began to put it back and walk away. However, I suddenly remembered a red cardinal is a well-known symbol from loved ones who have passed on. A big smile spread across my face as I felt his energy with me. That’s when I realized he just had his input for “our” card this year. I’ll know now, it will be from me and his loving spirit.