Tag: Sympathy Cards

The Loss of Whitney Houston – Talent and Heart

Every year I have need for more and more personal sympathy cards. Maybe it’s because I know a lot of people or maybe because I’ve lived in a number of places. Maybe it’s just my age, but it seems that every year I learn of more deaths of people I knew. Sometimes that person is a stranger, but my sadness is real because they feel like family. Such was the case this weekend, with the sad and sudden passing of Whitney Houston.

Whitney Houston was an amazingly talented woman who, unfortunately, had her struggles though the years. While all the talk in the past few days has been about her tumultuous marriage to Bobby Brown and her issues with drugs and alcohol, I prefer to remember Whitney as a mega-talented singer and a woman who donated much of her time and money to charity.

Whitney Houston had an incomparable voice. One just had to hear the few opening notes of her classic rendition of “I Will Always Love You” to know that she had a talent second to none. What some people may not know was that she was devoted to charity giving. She ran her own organization, the Whitney Houston Foundation for Children, which helped children with such issues as homelessness, cancer and AIDS. She was also involved with other equally important causes, such as the United Negro College Fund, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and the Children’s Diabetes Foundation.

I will be writing a sympathy card for Whitney Houston, and I hope it can find its way to her daughter Bobbi Kristina, who must be devastated at the loss of her mother. So even though I never actually knew her, I choose to remember Whitney for her grace, glory and spirit. I hope you will too.

Business Sympathy Cards Touch the Heart

When someone experiences the loss of a loved one, business sympathy cards can bring to light how many other lives have been impacted by this individual. Receiving acknowledgement from someone’s co-workers touches the heart as it reveals an often unknown group of people that share the loss of your dearly departed. We all know the effects of the loss on friends and family but hearing from outside this group can be very special indeed.

I recently lost a very dear friend of many years. After the services were over, her husband approached me and asked if I would help him choose appropriate thank you cards. He wanted to send a message of thanks in response to the many thoughtful  sympathy cards that had been sent to him from his wife’s co-workers and clients. He told me that he had received an astonishing amount of approximately 300 business related cards! He knew only a few of these people and was overwhelmed by the kindness and caring these cards represented.

Business greeting cards, in general, show appreciation and respect for people we work with, who work for us, and who we work for. That respect and appreciation exhibited through a business sympathy card is a way to show someone how much their dear one meant to others. It’s a simple way to touch the heart.

Personalized Greeting Cards – Keep Your Customers Thinking of You

Sending personalized greeting cards is one of the easiest and most economical ways to keep your company name foremost in your customers’ minds. When you think about it, they are a low cost form of advertising. When you pay for advertising, you are never sure of who will actually see it or whether it will be seen at all. A greeting card actually ends up in the hand of a live person. Most of us enjoy receiving cards and will most likely hang on to them for a while. Unlike newspapers that end up in the recycle bin, greeting cards are actually displayed, so that everyone in the office can view them.

Assorted greeting cards abound these days. There are so many choices. There are cards to fit every situation. Fun, elegant, simple, feminine or masculine are just a few. There are thank you, congratulations, get well or sympathy cards and let us not forget the most popular, holiday cards. Calendar cards are another good option and are a great way to have your company name displayed every day of the year.

Personalized greeting cards can be typeset with an imprint or can be signed by hand. They can even be a combination of both. One can choose from a provided list of greetings or be creative and make up a customized greeting. Logos can be added to the card or can simply have the company name imprinted. There are so many choices and options available.

When you send a greeting card, you are letting your customers know that they are not just thought of part of the time, but that they are an important component in the success of your business. Everyone wants to feel appreciated and personalized greeting cards allow you to convey this very important message. Sending greeting cards keeps your customer in mind, but more importantly, it keeps you in the mind of your customer.

World Events that Shape & Shatter Lives

After the official announcement that Osama Bin Laden was dead was made by the networks and confirmed by President Obama late last night, the cameras showed crowds of people outside the White House and New York’s Times Square joyously celebrating.  But when I heard the news, I did not feel joy.  Yes, I did feel some relief that, after almost a decade since 9/11, we finally found the man responsible for all the killings, meeting out the long ago-promised justice.   I am proud to be an American and that feeling of unity we all felt after that fateful day has returned.  It took awhile, OBL was now silenced forever.

But I immediately began to wonder what the ramifications would be.  Would it demoralize terrorists all over the world now that their leader was dead and make our country and the world’s future safer?  Or, would his death infuriate terrorists so that we will need to be more ready than ever for acts of vengeance?  More importantly, does the death of Bin Laden bring any real closure to those who lost loved ones on that day almost 10 years ago?

Will sympathy cards be sent to those who have loved and lost on the 10th anniversary of September 11 to demonstrate their beloved father, mother, son, daughter or friend is gone but in no way forgotten?

I invite those who have an opinion about yesterday’s events to add their comments.

Personal Sympathy Cards Were Gratefully Received

Throughout the course of my life, I’ve sent many personal sympathy cards to friends, relatives, and co-workers. I’ve also been on the receiving end, having lost several family members over the last several years. But I was quite surprised to receive sympathy cards for a recently deceased family member. You might be wondering why I was surprised, considering the fact that sending sympathy cards is a pretty common practice here in the United States. But this “family member” was actually a pet. Spike was with us for 17 years! That’s longer than most marriages these days, so it was with great sadness we were faced with ending his suffering.

Pets don’t live as long as humans but the sadness felt can be the same. I know people will say he was just a cat, but he was more. He was a sounding board when I needed to vent, a comfort when I felt sad, and a clown who could make me laugh. While the whole family felt sadness with the decision that had to be made, no one was sadder than my 19-year-old daughter. Spike had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember. So the sympathy card that arrived a few days later from our vet was gratefully received.

Sympathy Cards Express Heartfelt Sentiment

We have all experienced the loss of a beloved family member or a cherished friend. Often the sadness felt during these times of bereavement can be overwhelming. Always welcome are visitors who come to share in our sorrow and lend their support. They bring caring embraces, handshakes and words of comfort. Most of them also bring sympathy cards which they have placed neatly on a table near a memoriam of photos celebrating the life of the departed. Without a word being spoken, a sympathy card can convey what we would like to express in an understated way.

A sympathy card can express, in simple fashion, our sincere heartfelt sentiment. The message is usually a short, simple statement. A phrase. A sentence. Perhaps a short Bible verse. Whatever the content of the card it is sure to show the reader you care.

Sometimes when information concerning one’s death reaches us it is too late to show our support in person. Visitation schedules have passed, funeral arrangements have been made, and on occasion, we are too many miles away. Mailing a sympathy card shows that you care enough to share and express your feelings for another during their grieving period. Whether it be a family member or friend, co-worker or client, a neighbor or local shopkeeper, classic sympathy cards can state your feelings without a word having been spoken.

Personalized Greeting Cards for the People who Matter Most

Personalized greeting cards, such as birthday cards, get well cards, and sympathy cards, can be taken for granted. But I can tell you from first-hand experience how important these greeting cards can be.

Losing a loved one can be such a tremendously devastating time. Not that sympathy cards can make this tragedy any easier, but to know that people are thinking of you and your family and are taking the time out in their busy day to buy and send cards can make a sad day a little better.

Get well cards can also make big difference in how you feel and how quickly you recover. Not to long ago I was out of work for approximately four months. I have to tell you that there was not one day of those four months that I did not receive a card in the mail from my co-workers, family, or friends. It was the highlight of my day to walk to the mailbox and find a new card. Most of the time they were funny get well cards, and laughter is great medicine.
In this economy it is often hard to buy presents for all the people we would like. However birthday cards can be a great way of telling friends and family that you are thinking about them and wishing them well on their special day.

Moral of the story – don’t hesitate to send different kinds of personalized greetings cards to all the people who matter most to you.

It’s Not Easy Choosing Business Sympathy Cards

It would be difficult to find practical instructions in any etiquette book for choosing and sending business sympathy cards. When a close personal friend loses a loved one, or when someone we have personally known dies and we want to reach out to that person’s grieving family, we act on instinct. For these personal expressions of sympathy, we phone and we visit, and we are often used to making a special trip to personally pick out a suitable sympathy card. Or, perhaps we write a personal note of some length. Or, maybe we just go directly to sending a floral arrangement or fruit basket.

When selecting business sympathy cards, however, we are preparing ahead of time to offer condolences to and about a variety of people with whom we may have only a passing acquaintance. We are also making a selection that will reflect upon our company and the many differing people affiliated with our company. And yet, the very reason for sending a card lets us know that a brusque, business-like style would be inappropriate for the situation.

What to do?! I suggest consideration of one of the two sympathy cards I’m about to mention. Both are of a very dignified size and quality. Both designs reflect simplicity and gentility, which are soothing elements in the expression of condolences.

Design #341AR, Sympathy Lilies Card, strikes a sensitive balance between formality and gentleness. Its embossed framing leaves a clean white margin. The hint of soft lavender in the frame is also used to add three-dimensional shadowing to the lilies. The graceful curling petals and leaves are deeply sculpted for, not only visual depth, but a tactile sense of comfort. The natural shades of green and muted yellow, with coral-colored anther on the stamen, provide an easy focus for weary eyes.

Design #341AR - Sympathy Lilies Card
Design #341AR - Sympathy Lilies Card

A tad more formal, design #376AY, In Sympathy Card, is softened with a flowing gold foil script. Set on creamy ecru matte-finish card stock, it has a subtly embossed fine double framing. A muted contrast of marbleized pearl rectangle backs the facial script, for a sense of greater depth. This is a very correct and dignified representation for your company’s expression of sympathy to business associates or clients.

Design #376AY - In Sympathy Card
Design #376AY - In Sympathy Card

In either design, your use of a simple verse that is not overdone or presumptuous, with your company name clearly imprinted below the verse, will be entirely proper and welcome. A handwritten salutation or very brief note and/or single personal signature will warm your sentiments when the situation seems appropriate.

Sympathy Cards for Famous Families at Times of Sorrow

Has anyone ever sent out sympathy cards to the family of a celebrity or some other famous person’s family after hearing of a death of someone prominent? With the deaths recently – on successive days – of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson, I began to wonder how many of their fans might take it upon themselves to grab some sympathy cards and send them out to the celebrities’ grieving families. More than likely, there are probably quite a few.

As Johnny Carson’s sidekick for over 30 years, Ed McMahon came into our homes on a daily basis…remember the show Who Do You Trust, and of course, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where we knew him as that guffawing sidekick who made Johnny look so good. Later, after Jay Leno took over the show, Ed went on to host several popular programs, helped out Jerry Lewis each year on the Labor Day telethon, and even became a pitchman for Publishers Clearinghouse. The thing about Ed was, you could trust him…at least I did.

As for Farrah Fawcett, was there anyone from the 1970s who was more beautiful? (My personal choice would be her Charlie’s Angels replacement, Cheryl Ladd, but that’s another argument altogether.) Anyway, Farrah’s poster showing her great smile while wearing a sexy, one-piece bathing suit was what helped catapult her to super-stardom. She went on to become a very good actress and was always considered a respectful member of the show business community by the way she carried herself and the seriousness as to how she viewed her craft.

Michael Jackson’s existence was filled with contradictions. He was hugely talented at age 10 as the lead singer with his brothers in the Jackson 5, and became the biggest star in the world during the 1980s and 1990s with the albums “Thriller” and “Bad.” His benevolence and immense amount of charitable work and generosity added to his status as a pop icon. Unfortunately, his sometimes bizarre behavior, his idiosyncrasies, as well as allegations of child molestation put a damper on how he was viewed in later years.

All three deaths are sad, regardless of whether they were anticipated – either because of a lingering illness at an old age, a long battle with a deadly cancer, or in Jackson’s case, a death heard about from a special report on the news (or not). These people all perhaps had mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and sons and daughters who cared about them and are feeling a great loss after their loved one’s death. Deciding to help make someone who is grieving feel better by reaching out with sympathy cards is a wonderful thing to do.

Business Sympathy Cards that Express Empathy

Condolences are sometimes difficult to express in words when a person is grieving heavily over a loved one. Business sympathy cards can display your kindness with thoughtful consideration of both your relationship to the bereaved and their delicate emotional state. I feel if genuine flowers might be excessive for someone you aren’t personally close with design #087AY, Lily Sympathy Card, is adequate tribute to show you still empathize with them. A solitary and enduring lily with its peaceful green stem and soft-white trumpet is set upon muted gradations of sage and umber. The first two words in the greeting, “With Deepest Sympathy,” are set in off-white lettering over muted brown and the last word, a soothing metallic aqua script placed atop of the trailing brown gradation.

Design #087AY Lily Sympathy Card
Design #087AY Lily Sympathy Card

Though not as lively in color as Lily Sympathy design #100AY, Peaceful Sympathy Card, has the same tonality of neutral hues throughout. Worded exactly as its sister card, the greeting is a shining light of metallic gold script placed over a matte tan base with displays of cream and off-white. A small but somber arrangement of foliage ranging from solid to semi-transparent also adorns the card.

Design #100AY Peaceful Sympathy Card
Design #100AY Peaceful Sympathy Card

You can customize the imprint of your sympathy cards order with one of four appropriate greetings. The most comforting greeting to me is, “Our Thoughts and Prayers are with you during this difficult time.” The subtle earth tones with the floral and foliage themes lend themselves to make both of these sympathy cards befitting for any business leader trying to remind a grieving associate that life, with its fragile beauty, is always around us and it will always spring anew.