Apr 15, 2025 – You’d sure think this card was born yesterday, yet it was one of the first Passages we made 30 years ago. College roommate Laura Cendejas had penned the birthday message to me a decade after graduation, and a decade after that, I’d found it in my box of “keepers” and asked if we could publish it.
“In a world so full of change,” where would we be without friends who calm our nerves, help us make sense of things, and can always be counted on for a good laugh? My friend Sarah Connor in Chicago and I go back more than 40 years and, in particularly turbulent times, both take comfort from reading and listening to historians who have the enviable ability to help us step back and smooth out the rough edges. “That’s what I love about history,” writes Doris Kearns Goodwin. “It can really give you perspective. It makes you feel you’re part of a continuum.”
“The more time I spend with the past, the more optimistic I get,” maintains Jon Meacham. He explains, “We created a country, came through a civil war and two world wars and a period of possible nuclear Armageddon.” That said, “I think this is as important a moment as the hours after the Civil War when we were trying to decide what kind of country we were going to truly be. There’s a lot to work on. But ultimately, the story always turns out well.”
It feels to me that, in a loving way, good longtime friends serve as the historians of our lives. They remember and can remind us, “You got through that and now will get through this!”
Take the message on the first card you see below, written by Contributing Cardie Toni Hoepf and dedicated to her friend Bunny. “I was invited to Bunny’s 3rd birthday party soon after my family had moved to her neighborhood, and we’ve been friends ever since! We grew up on a street of young families packed with kids and spent so much time together playing at one another’s houses or running around outside that we pretty much only came home for meals! Since then,” Toni shared, “we’ve kept in touch more through cards than anything. It makes me smile to think of all our good times together, and I’m grateful that we could be there to console one another. Our friendship was cemented by a shared history, and it’s a bond that will never be broken.”
Contributing Cardie Teresa Bender put it beautifully when she said, “How one does without friends I do not know. We can get through rough times just by knowing someone is there rooting for us, praying for us, supporting us. Life without friends is like a garden without flowers.”
Contributing Cardie Penny Schiller calls herself, “a gardener who also enjoys taking my hands out of the dirt long enough to send love in an envelope. I’ve been fortunate to have had many friends who enjoy writing cards as much as I do, and I’m thankful I presently have a group of friends who regularly send notes of comfort as well as joy. There is nothing like being able to hold something in your hand and in your heart and to read it over and over again.”
Contributing Cardie Judy Sherman shared, “My mom lived to be 102, and almost to the end, she still loved writing long letters to friends. We always knew that if we were at a loss regarding a gift to give her, stationery and stamps always worked!” Cardie Kathie Raisler has found, “The snail, frog, turtle card is one of my favorites because we have friends who have been lifting us up for over 30 years and — in the words of icon Tina Turner — they are simply the best!”
A year ago, Cardie Agnes Cardoni shared with us, “Today I am trying to comfort my friend of 60 years (we met at band camp when we were 16.) Her husband is in intensive care. I will continue to send her cards of friendship across the miles, answer her Facebook messages, and pray. Life is so fragile. Thank goodness for cards to shore it up among loved ones.”
Debra May said, “Over the past two years, my dear friend in North Carolina lost her husband and survived the hurricane. We have been friends since 7th grade, and this year, we will both turn 70. Cards touch so many people (and yours are the only ones I send anymore).”
As if to bring us full circle in this story of friendship in a changing world, we loved what Debra said so powerfully. “I pray that we can return to a ‘kinder, gentler’ country. God help us all and watch over all God’s children.”
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
Apr 15, 2025 – You’d sure think this card was born yesterday, yet it was one of the first Passages we made 30 years ago. College roommate Laura Cendejas had penned the birthday message to me a decade after graduation, and a decade after that, I’d found it in my box of “keepers” and asked if we could publish it.
“In a world so full of change,” where would we be without friends who calm our nerves, help us make sense of things, and can always be counted on for a good laugh? My friend Sarah Connor in Chicago and I go back more than 40 years and, in particularly turbulent times, both take comfort from reading and listening to historians who have the enviable ability to help us step back and smooth out the rough edges. “That’s what I love about history,” writes Doris Kearns Goodwin. “It can really give you perspective. It makes you feel you’re part of a continuum.”
“The more time I spend with the past, the more optimistic I get,” maintains Jon Meacham. He explains, “We created a country, came through a civil war and two world wars and a period of possible nuclear Armageddon.” That said, “I think this is as important a moment as the hours after the Civil War when we were trying to decide what kind of country we were going to truly be. There’s a lot to work on. But ultimately, the story always turns out well.”
It feels to me that, in a loving way, good longtime friends serve as the historians of our lives. They remember and can remind us, “You got through that and now will get through this!”
Take the message on the first card you see below, written by Contributing Cardie Toni Hoepf and dedicated to her friend Bunny. “I was invited to Bunny’s 3rd birthday party soon after my family had moved to her neighborhood, and we’ve been friends ever since! We grew up on a street of young families packed with kids and spent so much time together playing at one another’s houses or running around outside that we pretty much only came home for meals! Since then,” Toni shared, “we’ve kept in touch more through cards than anything. It makes me smile to think of all our good times together, and I’m grateful that we could be there to console one another. Our friendship was cemented by a shared history, and it’s a bond that will never be broken.”
Contributing Cardie Teresa Bender put it beautifully when she said, “How one does without friends I do not know. We can get through rough times just by knowing someone is there rooting for us, praying for us, supporting us. Life without friends is like a garden without flowers.”
Contributing Cardie Penny Schiller calls herself, “a gardener who also enjoys taking my hands out of the dirt long enough to send love in an envelope. I’ve been fortunate to have had many friends who enjoy writing cards as much as I do, and I’m thankful I presently have a group of friends who regularly send notes of comfort as well as joy. There is nothing like being able to hold something in your hand and in your heart and to read it over and over again.”
Contributing Cardie Judy Sherman shared, “My mom lived to be 102, and almost to the end, she still loved writing long letters to friends. We always knew that if we were at a loss regarding a gift to give her, stationery and stamps always worked!” Cardie Kathie Raisler has found, “The snail, frog, turtle card is one of my favorites because we have friends who have been lifting us up for over 30 years and — in the words of icon Tina Turner — they are simply the best!”
A year ago, Cardie Agnes Cardoni shared with us, “Today I am trying to comfort my friend of 60 years (we met at band camp when we were 16.) Her husband is in intensive care. I will continue to send her cards of friendship across the miles, answer her Facebook messages, and pray. Life is so fragile. Thank goodness for cards to shore it up among loved ones.”
Debra May said, “Over the past two years, my dear friend in North Carolina lost her husband and survived the hurricane. We have been friends since 7th grade, and this year, we will both turn 70. Cards touch so many people (and yours are the only ones I send anymore).”
As if to bring us full circle in this story of friendship in a changing world, we loved what Debra said so powerfully. “I pray that we can return to a ‘kinder, gentler’ country. God help us all and watch over all God’s children.”
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
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