Picking out the perfect card each year for your special someone can be a stressful process. Now, take that amount of stress and divide it by 22. Bill Diesslin, Iowa State’s assistant director of environmental health and safety, has been sending the same Valentine’s Day card to his mother for 22 years.

Starting as a joke in 1990, Diesslin picked a comical Valentine’s Day card out to send to his mother, who saved the card and sent it back to him the following Valentines Day.

“I did not intend for it to be a sustainable thing, but it turned out to be,” Diesslin said.

Now after 22 Valentine’s Days, the card is wearing thin and becoming discolored with age, however, Diesslin has no intention of purchasing a new card. When asked what will happen if the card rips at the crease he says, ” I guess we will have to use duct tape.”

Diesslin does admit that postage to and from Arizona, where his mother winters and where the card is currently located, tends to be expensive. It has even become more costly than purchasing a new card each year. But to him it has become a comical tradition and new comments are written on the inside the card by him or his mother.

By re-using this card, Diesslin has not only saved paper over the past 22 years, but he and his mother have created a meaningful tradition that will continue in year 23 and many more Valentine’s Days to come.