Birthday card....

birthday card....birthday card.  I kept telling myself this all week.
A  friend of ours turns 80 tomorrow and I wanted to make her a birthday card because we aren't going to the party. (We are going to a 60th Wedding Anniversary celebration instead. The Senior Cat was "best man" and most definitely needs to be there!)
I am not one of those people who fusses around with cardstock, stamps, dies, embossing tools and fancy techniques. I cannot do any form of calligraphy. 
I still make birthday cards. I make them for some people on special occasions - such as turning 80 or 90 or, on one memorable occasion, 100. 
I make them by searching out quotations that are likely to interest the person. I type those up on sheets, print them off, cut them into individual quotes and then stick them - at random - over sheets of card. I print off a "Happy Birthday" as well, punch holes in the sheets of card, thread curling ribbon through and - there is a card of sorts.
I would not do them for everyone. There are people I know who wouldn't be in the least interested in such things. They don't read. But my friends tend to be determined readers,  unhappy unless they have a book close by. The only time I have made a card for someone who is not a reader was for a friend who is  Italian by birth and a knitter as well. She is a very good friend who had to leave school when she was just twelve. She had to learn English the hard way and she does read a little but she needs to have a dictionary by her side. I made her one with knitting terms in Italian and English and some quotes in Italian. The other day I noticed it is still on her bookshelf with the knitting books. I think that means she liked it.
But other people who are gardeners or cooks or carpenters or doctors or something else as well as readers are people I can find quotes for quite easily. I have books of quotes and I have collected more over the years. 
I don't always agree with what the author of the quote is saying and I know my friends won't always agree either. That's not the point. The idea is to give people something new to think about. People have quoted quotes back at me - from their cards. They get passed around at parties. 
I made one recently for a good neighbour. He was turning 70. We share an interest in philosophy and we did our degrees in different areas of visual perception. We didn't get to his party because the Senior Cat was in hospital but  he told me later that the event was a bit slow to start so he handed the card to someone - and soon everyone was talking ideas. He could have done something else because he is an excellent host but that worked for him too.
And yesterday, knowing I only had the day left to do it after a busy week, I brought up the files of quotations I already had. Was there the sort of thing right for this 80th birthday? Her interests are wide and varied. It wasn't a problem. I would have liked the time to hunt for some new quotations but  she doesn't know other people I know so I knew I could use what I had.
This morning I had an e-mail from her sister with an enthusiastic, "She's going to love it!"
I hope she does. They are fun to make.