Pen-to-Paper Challege Week 3

I am participating in a four-week Pen-to-Paper challenge sponsored by Pear Tree Greetings for Pearistas. Read more about it in my original post.

When I started this challenge, I didn't realize all the different ways I would use these cards. A thank you, a miss you and now a sympathy. Not quite what I expected to write this week.

How often do we see a hard situation that happens in another person's life, be it a friend or loved one, on a social networking site like Facebook, or read about it on a blog or in an email. It is just so easy to shoot something back with a quick "I'm sorry!" or "Thinking about you today!" or even the ever popular and sympathetic "Praying for you!". I know that when I write those things, I try to actually mean them, but it is just so easy. It really takes little or no effort on my part to leave a quick comment or even shoot off a simple email to that person.

This week my cousin announced that she was pregnant with her second baby. She had just found out and was so excited that she posted it right away on Facebook for the world to see. We all delighted in her news with her. The next day, we waited as she posted that she was heading to the hospital because something was wrong and then later mourned as she let us know - no more baby.

She got married this past year and moved half-way across the country from Washington State to Kentucky. I can't give her a hug at church or meet her for coffee. And as I was posting my comment to her on Facebook, I felt like part of a group. I was just one of many people posting an "I'm sorry" on her page - how impersonal. And suddenly I knew who I was writing my card to this week. Realizing that I didn't even have her new address, instead of leaving her an impersonal comment, I sent her a message asking for it and sat down to write her a nice and simple handwritten card.

Dear Leila,
I just wanted you let you know that I'm thinking of you and Brian (& Jo-Jo!) this week and sending up prayers for your family during this time. I wish I could reach out through space and give you a big hug, but this card will just have to do for now.
Love you lots,
Elsie

Not long, no great words of wisdom or advice. There's not really anything to say to make it better. But hopefully she'll get it in a few days when the Facebook comments have petered out and people have started to move on to the next online crisis and appreciate the fact that we're still thinking about her.