Bluffton man sent his brother a birthday card in 1973. They’re still exchanging it today
Almost 50 years ago, Greg Lula sent his brother a birthday card.
The card itself wasn’t anything special. It was tall and long with a black and white drawing of Linus, the Peanut’s comic strip character, against a bright yellow background.
“This is the age of ecology,” a speech bubble said on the front.
Inside was this message:
“Don’t throw this card away... recycle it to a friend! Happy Birthday”
Greg’s younger brother, Duane, took that message to heart.
He stored the card away until Greg’s birthday came around. Then, he wrote a message in it and sent it back.
Now, Greg, 70, and Duane, 65, have been swapping the card since the early 1970s.
“We didn’t know it got out of hand until about 10 years into it,” Greg laughed.
The card has traveled as much as the East Chicago, Indiana-native brothers have. It’s been through their college years, multiple moves across the country, — Greg is in Bluffton now and Duane in Kentucky — growing families, career beginnings, and career retirements.
Oh, and lots of birthdays.
Sometimes in the moves, the card would get misplaced in a box or stashed in a spot and not found for a couple of years.
“Sometimes boxes didn’t get unpacked quickly for either of us so we had an alternate card we would send back and forth,” Greg said. “But then we’d find this one again.”
The Charlie Brown card was clearly the favorite to exchange since its been in circulation the longest.
“The date postmark on the envelope is 19 July 1973, so this card has been waiting 17 years to return to you. Happy Birthday in 1990, Greg!!,” Duane wrote 30 years ago.
An important part of the tradition is to write a new note inside the card and date it. It’s become a timeline of sorts the men can look back on in remembering some big milestones in their lives.
Once the card couldn’t hold any more scribbles, one of the brothers stapled a sheet of notepaper to it.
Now, there are multiple sheets of paper and Linus is modeling a new outfit complete with a bifocals and a U.S. Forest Service hat doodled atop his head - an homage to a now-retired Duane’s work life. There’s also Kappa Psi Greek letters on his shirt from Greg’s college days. Linus is also standing atop a pharmaceutical mortar and pestle, a nod to Greg’s career.
The card arrived in Greg’s mailbox last week for his birthday.
He already plans to send it back to Duane in July.
“This card is going to go back and forth between us until one of us goes to heaven,” Greg said.
This story was originally published March 28, 2020 at 1:42 PM.
