Trending: No, Really

It was Father’s day this past Sunday.  It was Mother’s day last month.  Every so often there is a birthday, anniversary, death, engagement, marriage, or a variety of holidays that we used to acknowledge with a card.  Now much of the greetings we send are on line. Anyway, cards are expensive, but I do prefer any kind of card being sent, to an e-mail. But that’s not what I wanted to blob about.

 
This year I decided to give David his Father Day cards.  Not just this year, I always give him his cards in person, because I see him with great frequency and why waste the 45 cents on a stamp.  As has become our tradition or habit, we send funny, rather than mushy cards, and we always write a little something special.  Two years ago I found a card that was so funny I laughed all day. Last year, I chose the same card.  It made me laugh all day again.  But when I gave it to David he said it was just as hilarious when he read it this time as when he read it the year before.

After that experience I made a decision never to sign a card I bought for David.  This new approach to holiday celebration is much like the practice of re-gifting, but with one major difference.  We don’t try to hide the fact that we have used the card before.  In fact, not only is it practical for couples who want to save money, but if you are off to a party or a dinner and you find yourself without exactly the right  card, chances are you will have at least one carefully chosen very funny card available, because you gave it to your beloved, but you didn’t sign it. 

You are probably thinking, a card that you give your husband, wife etc.? It may not be appropriate for someone who is not as close to you.  But funny is funny for whomever gets it.  So, this is what we are going to do .  We will buy a special card, appropriate to the occasion.   We will not sign it.  We will say little loving things to one another in person. Then we will put it away for use next year or for an emergency.

None of this is what I wanted to blob about.  But if enough people do it, it will become a new trend.  What does it take to become a new trend? I was curious to find out exactly how to use the word trending?  First of all, what used to be a verb  (there is a new trend to re-gift cards),  has become an noun,  (What are the hottest topics in trending).  I get the hottest topics.  We used to say, what are the hottest topics in the news?  But now you have to fight your way through a plethora of social media, (twitter, hashtags), before you can figure out something as simple as, what’s going o   Sometimes I just feel like people who try to make a living by inventing, yet another way, to be trendy i.e. confusing.  Whether skirts are long or short is a trend. Eating cicadas dipped in chocolate every seventeen years, is a trend - or just stupid.  My mom always said, always set the trend, never let anyone else determine what’s in or out.  And with that my friends, go get yourself a card and don’t sign it. It’s the latest trend.  We’re just sayin’…   Iris