The Hallmark Life

Hallmark has really screwed me over. They have set my expectations for love and life unreasonably high. It’s similar to the Disney princesses… you know, with their beautiful silky hair, doe eyes, and impossibly thin waists? Same thing, but for life rather than physique.

I’ve come to realize that every time I have a bad day, someone in my life is not going to say to me, “Holly, you’re beautiful, smart, successful, and I love you every minute of every day.” That’s just crap. Additionally, when I have a good day, no one will tell me, “Hooray! You did it! Great job!” - Or other such nonsense.

Still, I buy the cards. I drink the Hallmark kool-aid.

The other day I was standing in my local Walmart Superstore card aisle. I wanted to get a card to tell a good friend of mine “thanks”, or “I appreciate you”, or something else that I thought Hallmark could say better than me… But then I got severely sidetracked. I started looking at the card aisle as something bigger than it was. Something more meaningful.

Here’s how it goes in said card aisle, from left to right: Sympathy, Thanks, Congratulations, Friendship, New Love, Troubled Relationship, True Love, Engagement, Wedding, Anniversary, and Baby. (Birthday options are on the opposite side: his, hers, from both, etc…). This order made sense to me. It was rational, sequential, and easy to follow. I think at some point in my life I have bought someone a card from each section. But not all have been bought for me… For some reason, on this day, that idea in relation to the order of the card aisle terrified me. How it that I am this is age and I’ve just been in a vicious circle between Friendship, New Love, and Troubled Relationship for so long?! Too bad my card aisle didn’t have a Divorce section; I could have thrown that one in there too, for a little flavor.

If my card aisle = life, then I am severely stagnant. I made a decision. I made a commitment to move forward in the card aisle. I’m not going back. This means no looking back either, and I am finally getting comfortable with that… as hard as that may seem right now.


Oh yes, True Love, Engagement, Wedding, Anniversary, and Baby cards. You will be mine. Oh yes, you will be mine. It's time to grab a hold of life's reigns and make some directional changes... just like no one else will dispense my Hallmark sayings at the end of each of my days, no one else can get me where I want to go. It's up to me, and I'm heading to the right end of the card aisle.