The writer of the following article has purchased gift baskets, but she never had a get well gift basket idea.. She has visited a number of hospital patients. Yet most of those visits were made while coming or going to work on foot. Lacking any sort of transportation, the writer had no reason to conjure up a get well girt basket idea. The writer has received both get well cards and get well gifts. One of those get well cards gave the writer the framework she needed for vtrsating the following story.During the summer of 1969, a recent high school graduate, one living in Pennsylvania, found that he felt compelled to search for some sort of get well gift basket idea. One of his former classmates, a girl who lived in the home next to his family’s home, was in the hospital. What should he send to her hospital room?

He did not want it to look like a romantic gift. He was sending the gift as a friend, not as a potential dating partner. He had in the back of his mind a get well gift basket idea, but he did not know how to make his idea a reality.

Where could he get a suitable basket? A nearby store had some pricey baskets.  Yet once the young man had paid for such a basket, he would not have much money for items to put into that basket.

The young man had taken a summer job at a local fast food restaurant. He decided to seek advice from some of the customers at the restaurant. He shared his problem with a number of customers, and he evaluated their suggestions.  That approach did not yield an inexpensive get well gift basket idea, but it did shed light on an important fact.

The young man found that a fair number of the customers knew the ill female. Having made that observation, the young man felt prepared to abandon his get well gift basket idea. He wanted to pursue his new idea.

The young man made time to go to the local stationery store. There he looked for the most suitable card. He knew that he would feel most comfortable with a humorous card, but he did not want a card with some type of raunchy humor.

Finally he found a red and white card with a clever and funny message. The young man bought that card, and then prepared to take it with him to his place of employment. He made sure that he had a working pen, a pen that he could pass around with the get well card.

That evening the young man gave the card to the guests at the first table. He explained to them why he had purchased the card. He asked the guests to sign the card and to pass it around the restaurant.

As the card traveled from table to table, the young man saw two teachers from the High School come into the restaurant. The young man realized that he was in luck. The one teacher had helped the ill female to learn calculus. His signature on the card would add to the meaning of the get well message.

Once the card had filled with signatures, the young man put it in a safe and dry place. Later he carried it out to the car. After he got home he asked himself another question.  Should he mail the card, or should he give it to the girl’s parents?

The young man finally decided to mail the card. That large card arrived at the hospital in the company of a good many cards. Still, that one card stood out from the others. It was unlike any of the others. It said as much or more than any lovely and packed get well gift basket.