Send birthday cards & gifts so they actually arrive before the person's birthday

Can’t believe I got my sister’s birthday gift sorted out a whole week ahead of time. I feel like it is only partial credit though since I still haven’t sent the card. The gift was a gift certificate sent in e-mail. Still – better than being late!

The annual 3-for-1 celebration is today (Mom’s birthday, parents’ anniversary and Father’s Day). One gift was ordered and sent over a week ago. Cards mailed on Thursday that no way will make it from Belgium to the US before this weekend. Yesterday the wonder of online gift cards means that at least the Father’s Day gift MAY have been e-mailed by today. That just leaves the anniversary gift card that won’t arrive for at least another week because, while you can order the thing online they only will send it by snail-mail (??? wtf). So – one out of four was ahead of time. Not perfect but better than my usual.

Next up – sister’s birthday, bro-in-law’s birthday, and their anniversary all in August. Plenty of time to prepare, right?

Why is it that I can’t make this a priority? I know that some of it is in defiance of my mom. When she feels the need to remind me that Nana’s birthday is coming up and I need to call her, or to not forget Aunt L’s birthday, I just reflexively don’t do it. Most of the time, I’m even ahead of schedule and have the cards but just “forget” to send them. It feels like if I do send them on time, I’m only doing it because my mom told me to and it makes me nuts. The scary thing is that I’m 41 and it’s not like my mom should still have this affect on me, but by the same token, she shouldn’t be still nagging me about stuff like this.

I realize that my pattern of being late on these things just encourages my mom to continue to nag me. The physical act of completing this goal isn’t difficult, it’s the emotional baggage behind it that’s going to be the tricky part.