It started with a banner. “CONGRATULATIONS”—all caps, all cheer, all special occasion. I took it apart. I repurposed it. If the message stays celebratory, but the content changes, does it still welcome you in the same way? Eventually, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” was folded in too. I reassembled the letters into pronouncements. Some direct, some strange, some comical. The kind of things no one throws a party for: “STATUS,” “TACOS,” “ANGUISH.” Eventually, the project migrated to the body. Nameplate-style necklaces. One reads “PAIN.” Another reads “PIG.”
 
I call these objects Felicitations—a word that sounds like a toast, but might actually be a welcome. Not for milestones, not for achievement, but for the unspoken. For something that doesn’t usually get a banner.