After the engagement party, my fiancee and I had quite a collection of engagement cards which came attached to gifts so kindly bestowed on us by the guests. I wasn't expecting gifts at all. I know this might seem odd to you but I was brought up never to expect gifts. So even now, getting a gift, even on my birthday always comes as a sort of shock to me (a little sad, but very true!).
Where was I? Oh yes, the engagement cards' collection.
Although I can be quite sentimental, I've never been a hoarder of things. I do like to save money, however, which you could say is a type of hoarding of sorts . The important distinction for me is that the bank keeps my cash and I don't have to be stuck with a pile of cash stashed away in some enclave in my house. My point is...
You won't find a thing in my wardrobe (alas other than my wedding dress!) that I haven't worn at least once or twice in a month. Everything that I have I use, and use frequently enough to justify their presence in my cupboard, in my kitchen, in my life!
I like to shed things. I give things away to other people who might need or want them more when I don't need those things right here, right now in my life. You see I am completely freaked out by knick knacks and all sorts just lying around, gathering dust. That to me is the very definition of chaos and disorder.
Thus said, when my partner and I got all those engagement cards, I immediately found the perfect use for them. Some people might trash them (they were only gift attachments after all), or put them away sealed in a box in a garage or a spare room. Hmm...
I convinced my partner that we should only keep the portion of the cards with handwritten sentiments on them, and recycle the rest. The majority of the cards we received were bi-folds (like the majority of machine made cards of course). I separated the un-used part of the bi-folded cards (the part with the graphics or adornment at the front).
What did I do with those?
I carefully scribbled some sentiment at the back and sent them out again into the world as our thank you cards for the engagement party attendees. My overriding motivation was that it was an original idea which complimented my newfound principle about recycling as much as I can, being sensitive to the fact that most people would have thrown out the same cards anyway.
As it turned out, feedback was more positive than I had imagined. As is the case with all things in life, not everybody was impressed.
When I opened an envelope containing a cheque courtesy of one of my parents' friends -- a very generous cheque which to this day seems
way too generous because my partner and I hardly know him-- enclosed was the following note:
"Wishing you both all the happiness and prosperity the world has to offer. We hope this helps you out a little on the start of a beautiful journey. All our very best wishes, Auntie & Uncle...PS: We also hope this will help you purchase some appropriate stationery for future thank you letters you may wish to write".
I was a little offended mind you, although not for long. Here was a couple we hardly knew who seemed genuinely to wish us well and seemed genuinely concerned that we were living on poverty street (that we couldn't afford "appropriate stationery").
All I could do was to post this reply:
"Dear Auntie & Uncle..., Thank you for your incredibly generous gift. It is overwhelmingly generous and we are extremely touched. We will use it to start an education fund for our firstborn. We'll also use a small portion of your gift towards investing in some luxurious stationery. We toast your generosity as we start the next stage of our life together. Thank you very much, M & L... PS: We hope this hand-pressed watermarked French paper meets with your approval."
