Years ago my sister gave me a dollar for Christmas. It was in one of those little money envelopes; you know the ones ... where George's smiling face shows through an oval window. That was back when a dollar would buy something, although today I can't tell you just what.
Well, I saved that dollar and that envelope, and I gave it back to her the next year. And thus was born a tradition between us. Every year since 1951 one of us has given the dollar to the other. It started out as a silver certificate. One year that one got spent and replaced with one that that was not. Another year a $2 bill showed up, and then that one got spent. And now, again, a silver certificate is back in the envelope.
Every year we have written our names and the year on the back of the envelope, which is now full and spilling over to the inside flap. Clel to Gus 1951. Gus to Clel 1952. Clel to Gus 1953... The envelope, somewhat well-worn now and showing marks of old Scotch tape repairs, has been back and forth in the mail, across the U.S., through many moves by her and me.
And the tradition lives on. Just yesterday I received it from my 9-years-older sister, who lives in central Florida. A few more years and it might qualify for the Guinness Book of World Records. Who knows?
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