Quotations...

Have you ever gotten a card from somebody for say Christmas or a Birthday and the card envelope has your name with quotes around it? Like for example, "Jimmy" or "Sarah". Why the quotes? Is there a doubt as to who I really am? If the person doesn't really know me that well then why send a card at all?

Perhaps it's to avoid confusion with another Will. Like, "To us you're Will, but that guy over there is 'Will'." Like he would be a sort of "Dark Will". A Will that fought in 'Nam. That Will saw some intense action and to this day he can't talk about it. He can't relive the memories of seeing good old Frankie and Dan "Ferret" Stevens (The troop's combat Vet) get shot in the back by Charlie and left for dead in the swamps. That Will has ghost haunting him to this day. He's a Will in name only, because deep down he's not a person anymore, just a walking, talking hunk of meat who's number hasn't come up yet.

But that can't be it! No, then the person would write "Will 2" or put the first letter of his last name on the envelope. (Which is Will T. in case you were wondering). It has to be something else. Maybe it's their way of trying to be cute. They know that at least I'm a guy and I wouldn't want any hearts over the letter i or have my name written in pink. They want their letter to stand out and not seem so cold and lifeless. They want me to know that we're on friendly terms. Little did they know that their concern has only backfired! Now, not only do I believe that we're NOT on friendly terms because they feel the need to reinforce it on the envelop, but I'm a GUY and any attempt to make an envelop "cute" will only anger the inner MAN BEAST hiding deep within my soul.

That's probably not it either. It's most likely that they put no thought into it at all. They just wrote it without thinking. Their only thought was, "Okay, write his name on the envelop and mail it." Well if that's the case then I don't want a card from you in the first place. Why would I want to receive a letter in the mail from somebody who didn't put much thought into getting me the damn thing. When I send a card it's for a good reason. It's important, it means something, it's a form of communication and I spend at least a little while making sure I say the right thing. What if I send a card to someone and they read it and think, "That's it? That's all he wrote? Well I'm tossing this."? That's a lot of pressure on me.

So please, next time you send a card to somebody, don't do it out of a sense of obligation or out of some knee-jerk reaction. Do it because it means something. Unless there is reason to doubt the identity of the person you're sending the card too. Then by all means, add the quotes.