There was a recent episode of Parenthood where the ‘deadbeat’ dad is trying to make mends with his children. He decides the best thing to do for his family is to leave and let them get on with their lives without him. When his daughter comes home she finds two envelopes on the table, one for her and one for her brother – the note says something like “for all the ones that I missed”.

The daughter (now 19 or 20) opens up the package and in it are cards from each year of her life – You are now 1, to my beautiful 2 year old, on your sweet 16, you get the drift. In each one there is a note from her dad asking for her forgiveness for missing each year. The picture fades away while we watch her connect with a father she doesn’t really know.

We live in the electronic age now, and we can’t escape it. Electronic greeting cards have been around for a while now, and now with Facebook you are updated when your ‘friends’ have birthdays. I have had a few facebook birthdays and I can say that it really makes you feel good to see your wall fill up with good wishes for the year to come.

So….where does that leave the greeting card industry? I am not going to cry for Hallmark or Carlton cards, but I would venture to say that they have seen a shift in their profits from their greetings over recent years. Especially with the increase of discounts stores like dollarama. Sure, you will probably not find the “BEST” greeting card on the planet at dollarama, but it is $1. I bought an anniversary card for my parents in October and the card was $5.49 plus taxes. I love my parents and the card was totally appropriate for them, so I paid the price.

But where do all ‘used’ greeting cards go? I guess it depends on the person. I would think that your 1st birthday would be something your parents would want to keep. Bar Mitzvah, Sweet 16, 21, 30, Engagment? Wedding? Baby? Where does it end? It doesn’t.

I admit to having too much ‘stuff’ in my life. I do keep cards from special occasions, some thank you cards, especially the ones that have personal pictures on them, hand made cards from my nieces. I have a box of cards that were given to me on this special birthday this year. So many people made such an effort to come to my party, and pick out cards for me, that I don’t want to throw them out…..

but when do you throw them out? Which comes back to the earlier point…about electronic greetings, birthday texts, messages on facebook. We can enjoy them for the day and then move on….