I received a request from someone on Etsy to create a custom card for a friend's birthday which featured Frodo and Sam and their friendship. ("Kinda geeky, I know," she said.) Actually, it reminded me of my own friendship with Stephannie. We must have read The Lord of the Rings a half-dozen times while we were teens. We would read all summer in her family's living room, her on one sofa, and me on the other. Barefoot, kicking back, with saucers of orange Tang on our tummies (just the powder, not mixed). We would each dip our fingers and suck on the sweet sugar while we read. My trilogy still has orange fingerprints throughout. (And my Fellowship is still warped from my misguided loan to her brother, who dropped it in the bathtub. I mean, who reads a borrowed book in the bathtub? No trauma remaining on that one after thirty years. No, really, I'm fine.)
I found an old beat up Two Towers at a yard sale a few weeks back, and I am actually ripping from it to create my cards. I know it sounds blasphemous, but how cool is that? For this friendship card, I found a lovely passage where Gollum finds Sam and Frodo napping peacefully despite their danger. I also copied the map onto card stock for the background. Adding a picture of the two hobbit friends, and metal tags with the initials of the sender and recipient, it came together quite nicely. And come to find out, these girls are turning 16 soon. Just like me and Nuffy back when. Kinda geeky, I know.