Woman uncovers 'embarrassing' sympathy card for her teacher written at age 7—'Kids are unhinged'

A child might not have developed a sense of appropriateness at a young age. They might say the most blunt things that can be both embarrassing and funny to look back on as adults. A woman wrote a sympathy card for her teacher when she was seven years old after the teacher's mom died. Though she was incredibly sensitive as a child and decided to write a card even without being told to do so, she ended up taking an insensitive approach unknowingly. The woman and author, Lindsay S. Keeling, who goes by @authorindsayskeeling on TikTok, shared the card with people.

"When you create your first sympathy card as a 7-year-old," the woman began, accompanied by her childhood photo. The card was addressed to the "computer teacher." "Sorry, teacher," she wrote on the first page, along with a drawing of a computer. "I am so sorry, computer teacher, that your mom had to die. Sorry," she wrote with another illustration of a computer on the next page.

Things took a hilariously blunt turn as Keeling candidly expressed how everyone has to die someday. "But everybody has to die someday, and today it was your mom's turn to die. Love, love is in your heart," the letter concluded with a bunch of little hearts drawn by the kid.

The author shared the letter as an embarrassing and mortifying moment from her childhood. "I laughed so hard ... and figured the internet might find it funny as well," Keeling told TODAY.com. "We had a substitute teacher that day, and we were told by the principal that our regular teacher’s mother had passed away. He did not assign us to color any pictures or make anything for our teacher, but apparently, I decided to do so anyway," she added.

The woman recounted that she was a very emotional child and wanted to do something for her teacher because her own pet bird had died recently. Her mom had bought her a book about loss to help her get through the process.

"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," Keeling pointed out. "She didn’t want to lie to me, but she also didn’t want to upset me, so she just said, 'Oh, that’s very nice, and I’m sure she’ll like it, but let’s keep it here for now,'" the woman said, recalling her mother's reaction to the card. Many people took to the comments section of the TikTok post to express their thoughts on the sympathy card.

@ashelydaniell72 wrote, "My class had to make cards for a girl who fell off the swing set and had a broken arm. In my card, I drew a heart around the swing and wrote, 'Don't blame the swing it is all your fault.'" Another user commented, "When I was in third grade, we had to make sympathy cards for a teacher whose husband passed and I wrote, 'Don’t be sad, get glad' like the trash bag commercials so I feel this deep in my soul."

@n0f4te remarked, "This reads like you are the one who did it." Meanwhile, @midnightsundreaming observed, "Kids are unhinged. When my MIL (mother-in-law) passed away, my then three-year-old son kept saying that nana was eliminated."

You can follow Lindsay S Keeling (@authorlindsayskeeling) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.