Storybook Garden, Summer 2001
We are celebrating our 11th year in business this month. Eleven years ago today, we quietly opened shop at the Villa de Cortez. Although I didn’t save my first dollar, I do remember what was sold in our very first transaction…a set of Wild Thing plush animals including Max.
We had a formal ribbon cutting ceremony a month later. I could have never foreseen all the changes both personal and business that would occur in the years ahead after our “grand opening” but I am ever so grateful for everything that has happened since that moment. Every moment of happiness, every heartache, every “good” day, every “nada” day, every moment of hope, every moment of discouragement…everything. “Everything” has given me the wisdom and character to be who I am today. One of my favorite quotes is by the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.” 
I am especially grateful for my parents and my family who have supported me all these years. I am ever so grateful for my wonderful husband (yes, I remarried 4 years ago for some of you who do not know my whole story) who probably didn’t know what he was getting into when he asked to marry me…now he’s every bit bookseller/shopkeeper, too. My oldest, who’s being carried in the photo by her dad/my former spouse, is turning 12 years old this Fall. I am ever so grateful for her and her patience with me as I learned to be a mother, bookseller, businesswoman, and teacher this past decade. Everything I did, my drive to keep going, to be successful was and is for her. I hate to admit that she would rather be with Grandma than with me at the shop on some days, but she loves to run the register now and she’s beginning to understand and see the whole picture.
Thank you for being our customer!
Who knows what tomorrow brings, but for now, I am grateful to my Father in Heaven for his watchful care over me, my family, and my humble business that has managed to keep it’s doors open even after “everything.”
