So I am fixated on my popup cards.

So I spend most of my retired free time (1) locating sharp, colorful Google Images of background pictures and characters that turn me on, (2) cutting out the characters, (3) hot gluing the characters onto the backgrounds, (4) completing the cards with covers, and (5) opening the cards for a surprise 3D event! I even rate the cards in my mind: Fair – Good – Very Good – and Wow!

Now, what to do? I mean, what to do with all those cards?

I plan to give them away. That gives me pleasure – especially if the recipients tell me they enjoyed the card. I thought of taking pictures of the cards before I give them away, to have a memory of what I have accomplished. I thought of making a file of who gets what cards. I wouldn’t want the same person to get a duplicate card.

Why my title, “Winnie with the Kite”? Winnie looks so happy flying his blue kite against the blue sky, with a tree, and green grass in the background. Winnie is as happy as I am. Winnie is me – and I am Winnie. Wait a minute – how can I be so happy in this crazy world, with so many terrible things going on, so many people down and out. Is it fair of me? Aren’t I escaping from the world – into my popup empire? Am I allowed to do that? I don’t know. But I am doing it.

If, for about 45 cents per card, I can make a difference in someone’s life, and perhaps put a smile on his or her face for just a minute, I am happy. That is how I justify spending my time on this wonderful “paper engineering” hobby. So, with me happy, and my recipient happy, I wonder if that makes God happy, too.

God put us here on this planet. God gave us a brain to figure out how to live. Each of us lives in his or her own environment, and that is likely to shape how we use our brain to live. We can love, hate or feel indifferent. The person living in relative poverty in another land does not have the options I have. I feel for that person.  At times, I feel guilty for enjoying my popups. Here I am, with all that I have, and I thank God, and I thank Winnie with the kite. I pray that all people will have a better life – a life that not only lets them dream about flying the kite with Winnie, but a life that lets them fly it, too.

Mr. Ebsen may be contacted at robertebsen@hotmail.com