From One to Another

Since Jeremy and I learned to write full sentences in elementary school, the task of writing a good message in a card to family or friend has always been one of complete mockery and playful competition between the two of us.

So tonight the whole family was invited to a party at a close family friend's house celebrating their son (Sam) and my brother's high school graduation. As Dad grills the shrimp and salmon that we are in charge of bringing a card floats around the house from person to person so they can write their own well wishes.

Sam is the kid of one of our parent's college friends so he was an off and on childhood friend for us which eventually led us to regard him as a close but distant cousin; he lives 45 minutes away. At best we saw him three times a year.

But I am not complaining, seeing as addressing family is much harder than friend since we see them in-between all of the card holidays and know that they save cards from the previous year.

Jeremy's infamous card message over the years has been to write: "Happy_(insert occassion)_!"

However, this time it was harder because he knew that we would be seeing them in a few weeks for the big week family vacation and that money would be involved (social tradition: if you knew the kid when they were in diapers and saw them at least three times a year there after you have to put a little something in the card).
After long deliberation he puts the card on the dining room table looking satisfied with himself.
Underneath my message of warm wishes for a prosperous future he wrote:

Congrats on Graduating!
Going to college is the first step to adulthood. (The last step is ending up in a nursing home, letting an immigrant change your diaper.) The Future Looks Bright! - Jeremy