Now you know. Perhaps I should sell this design to PETA.
One of my attempts at a greeting card. The bug is made out of beans, glued on. I still think it would have sold well.
Now this was quite a discovery today. My dad's mom. She's dead. Never really knew her that well, she was quiet and all she ever talked about was her neighbors, her job, and her plants. So to see that she wrote me this was a surprise. She was a sweet woman. She wrote this when I was just a kid, and I guess it meant nothing to me, because I didn't even know it existed. But today as I read it, my eyes welled up with tears. It speaks to me now.
Does anyone remember The Magic Turtle? A really cool theater in the Oak Lawn area in the 70's? There was this man in a turtle costume, he was like the host, and they put on all different kinds of plays for kids there. It was a real treat to go to the shows. I thought this poster was cool.
The way me & my dad have always communicated is funny. Never have we connected for real. It's just lighthearted silly stuff. That, or we talk about the dogs, or fun camping memories, or dinner. We don't go deep. So, over the years, if I got a card from him, it was never "to Daughter". It was always "to my niece" or "to a good uncle" or "Hello, Grandfather!"
So I followed his lead and all my cards to him are a joke as well. Hey, it's better than nothing. This is from 88 I think?
My mother's many attempts at encouraging me. She always tried to connect with me, wherever I was at in life. 
This is a cartoon she drew one time when I was bawling about my living situation in my early marriage, having to live at the grandmother's house. My mom said I coped in these 2 ways: either freaking out, or stuffing it in. I didn't get what she was saying, so she drew this for me. Then she said there is a better way to cope, she talked about working through things and moving forward. Yeah I got a cool mom.
My senior year I failed math. Shouldn't have graduated. But my math teacher saved my butt by calling my parents and forcing me to figure out the lessons. I still failed, but, mysteriously, my report card said 70 on it. I know for a fact I did not make a 70. So I wrote this after I graduated & sent it to him. My mom saved this, I guess it was the rough draft or something. Honestly. Have I had it hard, or easy? I can't figure it out.
