|
It's been a while since I wrote a blog here...and I'm looking forward to getting back to it with a renewed sense of vigor. Since closing the shop in November 2015, I've been busy with marketing and selling, at wholesale and retail, my art, WiLDWooD CoLLeCTiF. You can check it out here on the Artisan East site, and on ETSY. For more reasons than I can list, the time came to close my sweet little artisan shop. Some of you who are local know that very soon after opening Artisan East, my son's father passed away, and my life (and of course, my son's life) was forever altered. (This was 4 months after my father passed away suddenly one month after I had opened the doors to the shop and right at the point that I felt my grief was easing). As a small business owner, especially a new business owner, the work is 24/7. My son needed me...and the guilt I felt being away so much was just overwhelming. I feared not being there to talk to him right when he had intense feelings of loss and sadness would affect him dramatically and be irreversible. With both the emotional burden and the financial burden of having a business and being the sole provider for my son being so heavy, I decided to close and regroup... It's been about 10 months since I've closed Artisan east and it feels like 5 months. Time has flown by. It's been just over 2 years since my son's father passed and my Dad, too. That's the bitter. The shop was always my goal. It was my horizon through my 20s and 30s and I was sure it's what I would do until I retired. Letting it go has been hard, has made me dig deep, soul-search, and re-examine. But, I have discovered the sweet. It's a longing that I didn't know I needed filled...to be present for my son even more so than I ever was. The shop was not my utopia, like I had always imagined it would be. It just didn't fit anymore. My life course was changed for me...and the irony is not lost on me. It's exactly where I want to be. I share our story here for those of you who are interested. Thank you to all of you for your support and for rallying for Max.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |