I used to belong to Hallmark’s greeting card rewards program. Around your birthday, they send you a coupon for a percentage off your next purchase. So I would plan ahead and buy the whole next year’s worth of cards with the coupon. Of course, they didn’t have Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or Father’s Day cards in May, but I’d stock up on enough Birthday cards to cover at least my family and close friends, plus whatever looked high quality in the other sections, such as Thank You, Congratulations, Retirement, and Thinking of You. In general, it was convenient to have these on hand- you probably know what it’s like to shop when you’re desperate, and the frustration of not finding anything suitable.
After a couple years, I noticed that each year, I used almost exactly what I had bought. For example, if I bought a Baby Shower card, then during the course of the year, someone would get pregnant. If I bought two New Home cards, then two people would move. It was all fine except for the Sympathy cards. As ridiculous as it may sound, it felt like the amount of sympathy cards I bought determined how many people would die. I didn’t want to be involved in that, so I stopped shopping for the year in advance. Since I’m a writer by nature, I still send cards and letters, but nowadays I mostly buy blank cards and leave fate to its own devices.
It makes me a little sad to think about this story. If I thought I had some kind of power, instead of opting out, why didn’t I buy cards only for occasions that I’d like to see happen? It shows my reaction to fear. I’m going to go out and buy a whole slew of Congratulations cards. Maybe you will receive one of them.