Four years ago, I spent the Christmas holiday with my beloved former host family in Edmonton. After the Christmas celebration, I went out with two other girls (one current and one former homestays) to downtown for boxing day shopping.
We walked through the shopping mall stopping at different shops that interested us, and came upon a card shop. Being a great card lover, I was keen to go inside, and to my delight, the other two gladly agreed.
The store was not big, but it was full of good items. I carefully looked at each card design anticipating to find something that spoke to my heart. I was at the section of thank-you cards when one card box jumped to my eyes. On the box was a beautiful painting of a bird sitting in a rose garden. I couldn’t tell what was so special about this particular painting, but it had simply caught my heart.
I checked the back of the box to see who was the painter, but I didn’t find any artist’s name. My two friends had finished browsing the store, and I hurriedly purchased this card box before we moved on to the next store.
This card set became one of my favourites, and I wrote several thank-you notes on these beautiful cards since my return to Ottawa. Even after all the cards were gone, I kept the box since I really loved that bird in the rose garden.