My husband's aunt and uncle had an anniversary earlier this month. They received a card from their son. What made this card precious to them is their son was in Afghanistan - his fourth deployment! Who knew a card could mean so much?
When I sent a care package to Hubby's cousin early in June, I included a card for him to mail to his parents for their anniversary in early August. I didn't want him to miss out on sending his love just because they didn't have a Hallmark store on the corner! It seemed a good idea at the time. I'd heard of others doing something like this - I didn't come up with the idea myself. Some wives have included birthday cards for the kids or the brother/sister back home. I wish I could take credit for thinking this up all by myself.
My husband's aunt called me in tears. She was so thankful to get a card from her son and to know that he had remembered to send it despite the conditions he was enduring himself. Every now and again, I do something worthwhile and right. This was definitely one of those times! Apparently, Dan told his parents how he happened to have the card and the anniversary date handy in Afghanistan.
If you know a service member who is gone - maybe someone on the block or at another facility. Maybe your best friend's husband will be gone for their anniversary, or there may be a Blue Star mom down the street whose son you are sending care packages to or maybe you don't even know the person you are sending care packages to and are afraid that he might not have family members himself - fear not, his tent mate might! Make sure that you include cards they can send home to family members. Address the cards so they don't have to look up the address, if you know the address. There is no mailing charge, so you don't need to put stamps on. Just something to remember, if you are packaging up care packages.
For the family members back home who receive this unexpected gift - it's priceless. For the service member who is able to give a nice card to a loved one back home - it's priceless!
