Birthdays, Facebook and Canada Post

It was my birthday ten days ago. It was a fine day and as I noted on my Facebook page 

                "Thank you to everyone who posted/emailed "Happy Birthday" yesterday. It was great to hear                 from my friends and family.

              Had a wonderful day yesterday... in the afternoon I went out to see Tom who has a flock of    
              Cotswold sheep (he also teaches a course on sustainable agriculture at Trent University). I helped      
             with the shearing (mainly by staying out of the way), got to pick the best 10 fleeces (not that I     

             know anything about what makes a good fleece - I pick by whatever feels good), argued about    
             politics, heard some stories about the area and got to watch a skilled mother and son combo  
             shear. All in all it was a lovely afternoon with great people who had lots to teach me.
            Came home and had calls from both of my kids."

 It really doesn't get much better than that.


BUT I did not get any birthday cards this year. I can remember, from not that long ago, getting five or six cards every year. Because I live away from my family it was always nice to get something in the mail from them. I would display those brightly coloured folded pieces of cardboard with their special hand written messages on my  stereo. They might stay there for months. I just liked having them around. They were a tangible reminder of people who I cared about and who cared about me. Throughout my book case, tucked in between all of the academic books, are at least the last six or seven years worth of birthday and Christmas cards.

 A month or so ago I was trying to squeeze one more book into the already overcrowded shelves when I came across a bundle of cards from a few years ago. I looked at them, thought about throwing them away and decided that I would hang on to them for awhile longer. If I die before I move again, some poor person is going to have to go through those shelves and before they throw the cards away, will certainly wonder why I kept them. When/if I move - I will look at them one more time, read some of the inscriptions and in all likelihood keep them for no other reason than they make me feel good.

Silly - perhaps. Old fashioned - no doubt.

Facebook was lovely - I got many more birthdays wishes through that medium than I would have ever gotten via snail mail. Much of that is because my nieces and nephews and some of my far flung friends, if they ever knew when my birthday was, would have in all likelihood have forgotten it long ago. I would never have expected to get a card from them. So it was nice to receive a flood of "Happy Birthdays" even if it was because they were automatically reminded by Facebook that it was my birthday.

The cost of cards continues to increase, there are probably real environmental reasons as to why one should not buy cards and the cost of sending mail though Canada Post has reached the point where one really needs to think about whether or not it is worth it or not. So I understand why people don't send cards anymore. I, with the exception of sending cards to a handful of people, don't send cards any more either. But still it saddens me that such a simple, thoughtful and powerful way of reaching out to close friends and family is no longer part of our daily lives. While there are countless reasons why Facebook is a better way of staying in touch - some of the reasons including "it is easy and it is free" - makes the very act of reaching out just that little bit less meaningful.

I understand - I just don't like it.