Hearts & Cards

Nine years ago I decided to make Valentine's day cards for all of my favorite people. I didn't like Valentine's day with all of the expectations, horrible hallmark cards and boring red roses. But I loved hearts. And I loved paper. In my Boston apartment, I staged my own rebellion. Mass producing card after card. It was a lot of work. I had glue on my fingertips for weeks. I was up in the wee hours of the night finishing.  I was surrounded by scraps and clippings of paper. They stuck to my floorboards and showed up in my bags. I was tired for work and, like every project I start, I underestimated the time and was outstandingly overwhelmed in the end. I was pretty sure I wouldn't attempt a second year. But at the bottom of the work, I loved it. I loved addressing the envelopes to friends and family. I loved sending them to new friends and my oldest friends. I loved the idea of sending bits of love to people. It made me feel like I was living exactly the way I should be. I get so happy when I see them on friends' refrigerators. And people really liked them. So I continued. In my first year of law school I used an old legal dictionary as the back drop. When I lived in DC I walked to the post office laden with cards and the woman standing in line next to me said "you must have a lot of Sweethearts!" One year I cut out paper flowers with an exacto knife, another year I sewed string from side to side with tiny paper hearts slung on each mini-thread line. I'm always out of time, but I'm always excited beyond belief to get started. 

I will probably never send you a Christmas card, but I hope I will always send these mass valentine's cards. 

So it's year 9 and I hope you send me your addresses....(I'd also love if you sent back cards from years past if you save them, I'm always too exhausted to make an extra for myself.)