Sympathy, Hope, and Kindness

Hello! Today's post features two card designs I made recently and also a bit of philosophy, musing, and personal reflection.  You'll be happy to know that I'm sharing the cards first, so if you want to skip the rest it will be quite painless for you to do so!

I've recently had an increased need for sympathy cards.  I always have a supply of these on hand because I hate making these at the last minute, however, my supply has been steadily getting smaller and I needed to add some new replacements.  While I was picking out the paper for my cards, I was admiring the back of the gray pattern and thinking these would make great 'all occasion/thinking of you' cards.  I can always use those too!  I managed to make a total of six cards from one 12x12 sheet of paper and didn't have any scraps to set aside!

My flowers were stamped on whisper white using basic gray, then colored with pretty in pink and perfect plum pastels.  I used white for the flowers so the colors would be true and not muted by the vanilla background.  The hardest part of making these cards was deciding exactly how to place the flowers... other than that, they went together pretty quickly.

Now for the mental exploration of these cards...  Lately there has been a lot of thought been given to the finality of life and how best to use the time we are given.  This started several years ago when my brother almost died in a motorcycle accident followed by my dad suffering a major stroke.  At that time, I was questioning the reasons behind what was happening and looking for some brilliant insight to make me understand the grand scheme of things.  No such luck!  Helping my mom care for my dad on a daily basis and accepting the personality changes in my brother (major brain injury) left me feeling tired, empty, and completely broken.  A little less than two years ago, my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer.  He had surgery to remove the growth and was on schedule to begin chemotherapy when he fell and broke his hip.  So instead of chemo, he had another surgery... After his hip healed, he began receiving chemo which left him incredibly weak, sick, and quite grumpy (not that I blame him for that!).  He had just finished his sixth treatment when he decided he was done feeling terrible all the time.  He stopped chemo and slowly began to feel more like himself.  In the past month, we have found that he still has some cancerous growths, but they are growing at a much slower pace than normal for his type of cancer.  There is a good chance that he will end up dying from something other than cancer, which is both great and sad at the same time.  

All of this had me thinking about the quality of our lives versus the quantity and a good friend told me to read the book Tuesdays with Morrie.  If you have never read this book, you should.  It is a short story and very basic to read, so it's manageable even if you don't care much for reading.  The story was exactly what I was trying to sort out in my thoughts about death.  It is a beautiful story about two friends sharing the beauty of life while learning about preparing for death.  I can honestly say that it has given me great insight, and also shown me how I want to live my life from now on.  

During Fall Break, my sisters, my youngest DD, my parents and I went to a local historical museum.  There are sections dedicated to the German immigrants, local military, and origins of agriculture in our area.  We had a wonderful time letting my dad share his insights on all of the above and he took great pleasure in telling my daughter about using most of the farm equipment they had on display.  We played several rounds of "Do you know what that is?" and "What is that for?", without being able to use the information boards they had available.  Dad knew almost all of the tools and equipment, although my sisters and I did pretty good on the things we had seen Grandpa and Dad use on the farm.  It was such an amazing day and I was so happy to have another wonderful memory to add to my treasure chest.  This was also the reason I really wanted to use the Life is Beautiful side of the patterned paper.  Because when you stop to enjoy it, it really is! 

If you've read all the way to this point, I hope this has inspired you to take the time to enjoy some simple, happy times and share something with those you love.  Even the most ordinary things can become great gifts over time.  Have a wonderful day!