It was an A for effort.
A nostalgic TikTokker dug up a sympathy card she made at age 7 for a grieving teacher who had lost her mother at the time.
While the sentiment was sweet from Lindsay Schraad Keeling, now 32, her elementary linguistic skills didn’t exactly reflect that.
“I am so sorry computer teacher that your mom had to die. Sory. But every body hasts to die some day,” read the typo-ridden, handwritten note.
“And today it was your moms turn to die,” Keeling bluntly stated in her card, calling the incident one of her “mortifying childhood stories.”
Her clip has amassed more than 3 million views since the end of July.
“I laughed so hard … and figured the internet might find it funny as well,” Virginia resident Keeling told “Today” of the 1999 incident.
She recalled that the school’s principal let the kids know the teacher’s mom had passed away and that they would have a substitute.
“He did not assign us to color any pictures or make anything for our teacher, but apparently I decided to do so anyway,” added, Keeling, a self-described “very emotional child” who had just lost her own pet bird.
At the time, she was curious about the question that begs us all — the meaning of death — and her mother bought Keeling a child’s book about loss.
“I guess I put my newfound knowledge to use and wrote a very factual ‘sympathy card,’” said Keeling, who, in a bizarre career twist, would go on to serve as a funeral director before becoming an author.
“I’m sure I was very proud of it, because I excitedly showed it to my mother — who was wise enough to gently take it from me so I couldn’t give it to my teacher,” she said of the otherwise unshared sentiment.
The card recently resurfaced when Keeling’s mom, Julie Schraad, found it to cheer up her daughter after learning her grandfather passed away in July.
Since posting it, Keeling has been swept up in the response online.
“It’s got heart, humor and doodles?! we give it a 10/10,” greeting card purveyor Hallmark shared in the comments.
“I can’t stop laughing,” one person wrote.
“If I was your teacher, that honestly would have made me feel better,” added another user.
Deep down, it seems the card ended up reaching the right people.
“The feedback I loved the most — besides all the funny comments — was a person who said their mother had passed away recently and this was ‘the first time they had laughed in weeks,’” Keeling told “Today.”
“I was so grateful that I could bring joy to people who were grieving like me.”
