When in doubt, write about the future you wish for them, not the past you'll miss with them.
Fresh today · Thursday, 4 June
New Wishes
A handful of wishes pulled from the cabinet this morning. Pick one up — copy, save it to your pinboard, or send it on.
Match the tone to the relationship — boss gets warm-formal, longtime colleague gets warm-funny, mentor gets warm-grateful.
Skip the clichés you'd find on a coffee mug; the retiree already owns the mug.
Mention one project, one trait, one shared laugh — three details turn a card into a keepsake.
End with what you'll miss, then immediately balance it with what you hope they'll gain.
If you're stuck, write "Thank you for" and finish that sentence honestly — the rest will follow.
↑ pick one up
Browse by occasion
What are we writing today?
Cabinets sorted by occasion. Open one — pages are arranged by warmth, not algorithm.
- Anniversary
- Baby
- Belated
- Best
- Birthday
- Boy
- Boyfriend
- Christian
- Christmas
- Congratulation
- Diwali
- Easter
- Eid Mubarak
- Engagement
- Farewell
- Fathers Day
- Friendship
- Funny
- Get Well
- Girl
- Girlfriend
- Good Morning
- Good Night
- Graduation
- Hanukkah
- Heart Touching
- Holiday
- Invitation
- Job
- Love
- Miss You
- Mothers Day
- New Year
- Recovery
- Retirement
- Romantic
- Thank You
- Thanksgiving
- Wedding
- Well
- Women's Day
- Sympathy
- Valentine's Day
- Halloween
- Veterans Day
More from today
Use their name in the opening line; the personal touch travels further than any flourish.
Write the way you'd talk over coffee — not the way you'd talk in a memo.
If the retiree taught you something, name it precisely; vague gratitude reads like flattery.
Leave room for emotion but don't overcommit — one wobble in the prose is enough.
Avoid the temptation to summarize their entire career in two sentences; pick one moment instead.
If you're writing as a team, pick one voice — group cards with twelve tones feel committee-built.
A small, weird detail — the candy they kept in the drawer, the playlist at year-end — beats any inspirational quote.
Sign with your name and one specific reference to your time together; future-you will be glad you did.
Write the card in pencil first if it matters; ink commits before the heart has caught up.
If you only have a sentence, make it a true one — "You changed how I work" beats a paragraph of polish.
Imagine the retiree finding the card a year from now in a drawer — write the version that holds up then.
When the relationship is complicated, don't paper over it; a warm, honest line beats a dishonest paragraph.
Use the future tense generously — "I hope you finally" gives the wish forward motion.
Add a small wish for something concrete — a quiet morning, a long trip, a finished novel.
If humor's your register, keep it kind; retirement isn't the time for sharp edges.
Close with a phrase only you would write; signatures fade, but voice doesn't.
Don't worry about being eloquent — worry about being specific, and the eloquence will arrive on its own.
Send the card on time, or send it late with an apology; never send it never.
After all those years of sharing every workday, here's to sharing the slow ones too — long lunches, longer walks, no agenda.