Get Carded: A Simple Card For A Not-So-Simple Event

Hello! Our daughter recently started a PhD program in chemistry. Along with picking a research group to work with and taking classes this semester, she is also a teaching assistant for two freshman-level labs and two corresponding recitation sections. (A professor supplied the course materials, but our daughter will be the instructor). She and her fellow first-year classmates did have TA training, but still, the thought of being in such a position would have kept me awake at night with anxiety. 

If our daughter had such anxiety, she didn't tell us, and texted after the first recitation that she thought it went well. It probably helped some that she had two years of STEM mentoring as an undergrad, a position had involved keeping office hours and running help sessions. So she already has some awareness on how to manage the academic needs of underclassmen. 

Nevertheless, we're very proud of the good start she's off to, and my husband suggested sending her a gift card to one of her favorite online stores. Naturally, I made a greeting card to send along with the gift card:

Materials used:

• white card stock
• portion of page taken from vintage chemistry textbook
• patterned scrap from World Market shopping bag
• "Congrats" stamped in brown ink on white card stock scrap
• gold glitter washi tape

I could have made a fancier card, but didn't really feel the need to. Sometimes a simple card just seems right, and this was one such time. 

Our daughter appreciated the card and gift card. We were glad to "reward" her in this small way, even if it was with just a simple greeting card and small gift card.