My Guy’s cousin recently graduated from high school. The graduate is a really cool guy, and we were happy to send him a card with a little cash.
Because I’m a giant dork, I bought him a card from The Onion. And inside I wrote, “Follow your dreams and stuff.”
I don’t know why I don’t work for Hallmark.
So, today, we got a thank you card. It was a masterpiece of 18-year-old boy wordsmithing:
My Guy and Cha Cha –
Thanks for the card and the cash. I will spend it well. I will think of you lots at college.
Love,
Grad
I couldn’t help but laugh. However, My Guy did point out that the thank you arrived with expedient aplomb. It was actually really impressive, as I’d sent the card just a few days ago.
My Guy: I don’t remember writing my graduation thank yous that quickly. I don’t think we even had a party.
Me: You didn’t clean out the garage, set up folding chairs, and have a party with sheet cake and ham buns?
My Guy: Ham buns?
Me: Yeah. You know, buns from HyVee, sliced open, with ham in ’em?
My Guy: You mean ham sandwiches?
Me: They’re called “ham buns.”
My Guy: What is wrong with your people?
Me: You’re just jealous.
My Guy: I don’t even remember what I received for graduation gifts, besides lots of Bibles.
Me: Bibles? I guess people thought you really needed The Lord?
My Guy: I guess.
Me: The best gifts I got were from these 2 little old ladies at church. They were sisters – Mary and Alice. Alice gave me stationery, and Mary gave me stamps. At college, those stamps were like gold!
My Guy: Stationery? What did you do with that?
I looked at him. And then I realized that our 5-year age difference really matters here.
Me: I went to college before the Internet. I wrote letters … like the pioneers.
My Guy: – blank stare –
Me: – grey head in weathered, elderly hands –
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I'm pretty sure my boys wrote thank you notes like that.
Asking about stationery makes me want to put my head on the desk and weep. (Stationery and stamps was a gift we often gave my husband's grandmother in our early years of marriage. Such an awesome gift! We were all on a limited budget but unlike Grandma, we had money coming in from jobs.)
I graduated in 1981 from high school; and, as my graduation present, my parents gave me an ELECTRIC TYPEWRITER with a SELF-CORRECT ribbon. And all the kids in my college dorm thought that was really cool.
I also got a dictionary, because there wasn't any ONLINE anything where you could look up words. I swear, it was like the Flintstones.
I remember writing letters. I kinda miss those days. I remember the first time I heard the word email. I was like huh? That's just weird.
Oh we are a lost generation of fuddy-duddies.
Even spell check does not know what a fuddy- duddy is…
I love finding letters from my grandmother and his that I have tucked in my recipe books.
I find them so sweet to read.
Ham- buns?
I have a set I am wearing right now.
Ham buns! Yum! (Even though I no longer eat pork.) I was just remembering those fondly the other day. And duh about the stationery. We had the e-mail in college, but it was so newfangled we still wrote letters. On paper!
HA!
I got bedsheets, stamps, a pillow and a deck of cards with different stretching exercises (?). Oh, and a fabulous dictionary.
So, he'll think of you lots in college, eh?
midwest food: had a hiliarious evening with my niece from Minnesota hearing about HOT DISH: I mean, take a casserole and some mushroom soup and throw sh!t in there and take it to the church supper, school dinner, grad party, etc etc etc 🙂
This will date myself for sure, but I was given a portable typewriter … aka not electric … when I graduated over 45 years ago. Back when you had to have the round eraser with the little brush attached to make corrections. But the local jewelry store also was giving away beautiful crystal bowls to the girls and I still have and use mine. Grad party not only had ham buns but special punch … 7-up, lime sherbet with a bit of dry ice thrown in to make it foam. Oh yes! Ya gotta give Grad points for writing a thank you note tho. And so quickly.
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