Have you seen the commercial where the guy is checking out at the liquor store with his six pack of beer and he happens to see the countertop display of Valentine’s Day greeting cards? He grabs one without even reading it and throws it in with his purchase. The next frame shows the same guy at a lovely restaurant having dinner with his girlfriend. She is opening his card and tearing up with spontaneous, genuine emotion as she reads the heartfelt sentiment above her boyfriend’s handwritten signature. WOW…that dude scored…and he didn’t even take time to READ the  card before he bought it!

Fast forward to Mother’s Day.

I was at a beautiful outdoor garden center this morning looking for a hanging basket or potted plant for my mom for Mother’s Day. I was carefully scrutinizing each and every plant…thoughtfully looking at their color, shape, size, and number of blossoms. I was truly enjoying the whole experience and had selected 3 particularly lovely potted plants and had set them aside for the next round of consideration.

Suddenly… out of nowhere, a man appeared. He rushed past me, saying a quick “good morning” and literally grabbed the very first potted plant and hanging basket within his reach. He was gone as swiftly as he had appeared. I stood there in horrified silence. Clearly…this man had completed an entire year’s worth of Mother’s Day shopping before my very eyes in less than 30 seconds.

Seriously??!! What happened to making sure the color was perfect and the plant you finally chose was filled with buds that would open at just the right time on Mother’s Day?!?

I completed my selection process and proceeded toward the check out counter 20 minutes later with the plant that I was sure was the perfect selection for my mom on Mother’s Day.

I had invested time, thought, and love in my purchase…and I had already selected a greeting card with the perfect sentiment for my mom.

So…what is the moral of this story? Perhaps it is simply to TAKE TIME to reflect on the meaning of Mother’s Day. If you have been blessed with a Mother’s love in your life…TAKE TIME to thank her and make her feel special on MOTHER’S day.

A mother’s love knows no limits and sets no bounds…

What an extraordinary gift. Celebrate it with joy!

I recently watched, with great interest, an episode of the reality show “Undercover Boss.” The company featured was a customer of ours until they decided to take all of their manufacturing overseas and stop purchasing from vendors like it takes two who create and produce their products here in the U.S.A. Okay~ there’s my daily plug for supporting American companies.

While watching this program, I found myself wondering what it would be like to “go undercover” in my own company. Realistically, that could never happen since there are only a dozen of us working closely together every day and I highly doubt that even the most creative disguise would successfully fool my employees. However, seeing the CEO of a large company with all the same departments, processes, challenges and goals go undercover and work with his employees was fascinating to watch. There have been many times when I have expressed to an employee of mine that I could never do what they do. I hope they realize my words are genuine. I’d like to believe that I always listen to every idea and always respond effectively to every need an employee has both in and out of the workplace…but I know in my heart that isn’t the case. I get busy and stressed and wrapped up in all my own deadlines and responsibilities and I frequently fail to take time to really watch, listen and respond to the extraordinary people I work with every day. When I go to work today, I think I’ll touch base with everyone in the building to see how their weekend was and to ask how I can make the week ahead more pleasant and productive.

I won’t be undercover. They’ll see it’s just me. But I hope it will do some good just to know I care.

The desire of my heart is to create a workplace that is way more than just a place people come each day to do their job. Our greeting cards are beautiful vehicles of hope and joy and comfort that travel all over the world. We have the amazing privilege of spreading that same positive energy in all we do every day. What a blessing!