Month: November 2014

Day 26 – When Dreams Don’t Come True

I suppose I should have titled this post, “When Dreams Come True, But Don’t Last”.

This is the sweet sign which hung over the front door of a little shop I once owned, but in the long run was not meant to be.

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When I was working on my never ending garage cleaning one afternoon, I found my sign all wrapped up and stored in a safe place.

I am sad when thinking of my shop, it was really special, handmade items. country type furniture, collectibles, prints, pottery, candles, everything popular at the time.

My shop was in a tourist area, Waynesville, Ohio.

Waynesville is an antiques town, but shops like mine added the extra touch needed to appeal to all folks visiting.

I remember that first day, we had a line of customers waiting to pay.

So many compliments, and so many returning customers, who became new friends.

Of course, it was work, filling the store with new things was a must.  No one wants to visit a shop with nothing new!

I was fortunate enough to have some exclusive wholesale items, sold only at my shop, and some very talented loyal crafters as well.

But as life goes, this dear, sweet dream of mine ended when my husband’s sickness caused him not to be able to work on a consistent basis, generating the income we needed to live.

Eventually shop money had to be used for everyday living.

I held on as long as I could, but was digging myself a hole, with debt and stress.

The day came when I just had to let go.

I can’t bring myself to get rid of the sign, I know this dream of mine will never happen again, but I at least have the memories of what it was and what it could have been.

There is no bitterness in my heart and I do not feel like I failed.

Life just gives all of us these kinds of ups and downs, but life goes on and it is worth living.

Blessings to all.

Don’t give up on your dreams.

 

Day 25 – Memories

We live in an older neighborhood and we have many very large trees in our yard.  This time of year that means raking leaves, lots of leaves.

My son helped me this past weekend with this overwhelming chore!

Again, I thank God for him every single day!

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As we were raking, Jim stopped and said to me, “Mom, do you remember the day we spent with Grandma collecting leaves for my 5th grade school project”.

I do remember that beautiful fall Saturday morning when we picked my Mom up and headed to an absolutely beautiful icon in Cincinnati, Spring Grove Cemetery.

Cedar Lake

Serving as a living horticultural laboratory, Spring Grove’s Arboretum boasts a remarkable 1,200 species with over 1,000 labeled.  The labeling of the trees really helped Jimmy with identifying the leaves.

Autumn

Jimmy collected the leaves, mom secured each one, and I helped with the documenting.

His favorite find was the leaf from the Ginko tree.  He was sure not all the kids in his class would have a Ginko leaf!

We enjoyed a really spectacular day together, and we shared what is now a beautiful memory.

I was so pleased and touched that my now grown son remembered the day we spent with his loving Grandma.  It was special moment for us to share.

Making these kinds of memories with your loved ones are so important to living and loving life.  This memory didn’t require money or anything fancy, it was a simple day worth so much, especially all these years later.

Make joyful, loving memories with those in your life today.

Oh, Jimmy received an A+++ on the project and his teacher, Miss Berberich, said it was the best leaf project she had seen!

 

 

 

 

 

Day 24 – Forgiveness

One of the most important things I have learned and worked on over the past few years is forgiving and asking to be forgiven.

Forgiving someone who has hurt you is really a hard thing to do, but you must for your own peace and joy.

I can write about the time I jumped all over a sweet girl at the drive thru coffee line, waiting 12 minutes for a “quick” cup of coffee on my way to work, only to realize that I was wrong and apologized the next day.  This young dear person accepted my apology and eventually we established a friendship, but the example I want to write about is about my Mother.

Days before my loving Mother passed away from breast cancer, as I sat by her bedside alone with her at the time, with tears in her eyes, she whispered to me “forgive me, I am so sorry for…”.

Years ago she thought that I had done something really bad, but the truth was I had not.

I never thought again about the incident after it was sorted out, but obviously my Mom did and she wanted me to know before she passed that she was sorry.

It is so hard for me to write this without crying. This was something my Mom needed to tell me before she left this world.  I will never forget this moment with my Mom, and again as with many times in my life, in those last hours of her life before she lost consciousness, I learned from her.

Forgiving and asking for forgiveness is so important and something we all should learn to do in this life of ours.

Love and blessings.