About 8 years ago I could pick up the Sunday paper every week and I would know at least one person in the engagement/wedding section. I was at that season of life where people my age, give or take 5 years, were getting married. I bought a lot of wedding gifts and cards in that time period.
That lead into the “baby period” where everyone was having babies — I’m kinda/sorta still there but now it’s mostly friends having second and third babies. So I’ve bought my share of baby washes and diapers and baby cards, too.
Lately I think I’ve encountered a new phase, and that is people my age losing people to death. Several friends have lost parents and grandparents of late, and I’ve found myself buying more sympathy cards than at any other time. It could just be a fluke thing. I hope it is. But the age of my circles of friends is larger than in my younger years, and yeah, some of my friends’ parents are getting up there. And grandparents definitely. I lost my own grandmother last year, and my last remaining grandparent is 88.
I found it interesting that I discovered these “phases of life” by the noticing a change in the kinds of greeting cards I’m buying.
Calluna 