Of Cards And Mothers

A fellow I know, definitely not Academic Bro, definitely not him at all, who got married recently told me a story that made us chuckle.

His mother, definitely not my mother you understand, forwarded a congratulations card, specifically a congratulations on getting married card. It was from a friend of the fellow's mother, a friend the fellow has met only a couple of times, whom the mother plays bridge with.

The mother, and I do hope you're managing to keep up with the complex character mix here, forwarded the card and enclosed the address of the sender, presumably so the fellow could send a thank you to the bridge playing bloke.

Mothers, Sri Lankan ones in particular, are like that aren't they?

"Did you ring Aunty X and thank her for using your toilet?"

"You must call Uncle Y and thank him for letting you lend him that money."

"Are you going to call Uncle Z and thank him for coming there for dinner the other night?"

And on it goes. Feel free to add your own ridiculous but totally true examples. It's all because the mother feels that the behaviour of the child is a reflection of her. Fathers, in my experience don't really think like this.

I have a mother, though I won't identify her specifically, who often tells me, when I complain about her treating me like a child, that I'll always be her child. I was always stumped by this, until about a year ago.

Then I came up with an answer: "Yes, I may always be your child but that doesn't mean you have to treat me like a child."

But I digress. The thing is that this thanking people business can go on to the nth degree. Thank you cards are statistically proven to be the fastest growing seller in the UK and Sri Lankan card industries. Last year more were sold than birthday cards and the growth is expected to continue.

I'm going to capitalise on this and get in on the ground level, at the beginning of the product life cycle graph.

Before you know it you'll see the launch of the RD "Thank you for the thank you card" range of cards. Of course, after that there'll be a further generation, because one can't receive one of these cards and not thank the sender.

Remember you heard it here first.

PS - Some of the statistics in this post might be total bollocks, made up entirely.