In January, Lynn Colwell posted a request in a Redmond community Facebook group: “My dear husband’s 90th birthday is coming up and I am trying to gift him with as many cards as possible from around the world.”
She didn’t post much more, just that his name is Steve, he’s a musician and loves pickleball, accompanied by a photo of him smiling next to a sunflower. She included a mailing address and the message that whether residents knew him or not, if someone would like to send a card, she would really appreciate it.
The cards came in. Dozens and dozens and dozens, to the point the couple lost count. Steve Colwell’s 90th birthday was Feb. 15 and he’s still opening envelopes.
“They came to a delivery post box and the lady at that place said ‘I don’t know who Steve Colwell is but I want to be him on my birthday,'” Lynn Colwell said. “I had no idea we would get this many.”
Unbeknown to Steve Colwell, Redmond residents were hatching plans to send cards under Lynn’s Facebook posts. One commented that she would send a card because he reminded her of her grandpa. Another wrote she sent the request to her relatives in the United Kingdom so he could get international cards. Lynn had also requested cards from their friends and others who know Steve through his work as one of the founders of Up with People, an international performing group.
Lynn Colwell hoped to give the cards to her husband on his birthday. But then they both contracted COVID, and he had to be hospitalized for five days for other health issues. They canceled his birthday party and the plans for the card reveal.
When he was discharged and returned home, Lynn told Steve there was a big box waiting for him.
“It was wrapped and it was like a Costco cardboard box,” Steve said. “I couldn’t imagine what kind of gift I would need at this point in my life.”
The box was filled with cards — generic greetings from the drugstore, homemade works with kids’ drawings, high-quality stationary sent from Japan. Some from close friends, others from people they didn’t know.
“On the one hand, for people I don’t know, or who only know Lynn who say nice greetings, that is just a gift,” he said. “For those cards from people I do know, I’m feeling very privileged, and it was a moving thing for me to read so many cards.”
Steve reads about 10 each day so Lynn can read with him and tell him whether they know the sender. They’re not sure when they’ll finish, or what they’ll do with all the cards. They both hate the idea of throwing them away — maybe they’ll paper his office walls with them. “It might take over his entire office, I’m not even kidding you,” Lynn added.
Why did so many people send in cards for someone they don’t know? The Colwells think most people are looking for some way to give a little joy.
“It’s the little act of happiness,” Lynn said. “People just want to do something that can make someone else happy and be a part of something. I think this was a very simple way for people who wanted to do something nice.”
