Saturday, April 24, 2010

Emotional Reflection


It's getting harder and harder to find the time to blog, or maybe to find the time to to collect my thoughts.
It has been a week of emotions, the loss of a friend and mentor,Barney, hit me hard. I pulled myself together and filled the week with meetings.
The Main Street Gang is diligently conducting business, rallying towards the Cupcake Festival. The Town Planning Board, was reviewing plans for an additional building on our road. The Business Association, showcased a panel of guests, including the counties tourism director. All have been time consuming, but some what necessary to attend.
A week of emotions or a week of avoiding my feelings? I am blessed to have a full life, and I was caught off guard by the news of my friend Barney's passing. ( I'm pooling up writing this) I should not have been, we all knew his time was ending. It is fitting that I spent time avoiding tears this week with meetings, he spent years standing up for neighbors, the town and ideals in meetings for decades. I thought he taught me a lot about communicating and representing, in the role of being an officer in our towns business association, and he did. It wasn't until his passing that I realized he represented the best things in all our lives. He shared his love of family, of friends, of community and was passionate about life. He was a man who gave back and gave back. Most of all Barney taught me, the little stuff doesn't matter, it's enough to know you don't agree and just walk away. A lesson that took me nearly fifty years. This would have made Barney laugh, he had a great laugh. Rest in peace my friend.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Five Years and Pondering


I have never been one of those people who are disappointed in birthdays. You know, the friend that had a list of things, that when they got to a certain age, they were going to have done. The friend that is disappointed with their birthday and upset about what they haven't gotten done on the list. Not me, I never have had a list of that type. I was fine at 30 and 40 and even 50. So what happened to me last week? This five year thing really threw me for a loop. Then I realized, I had made a list, in my head, but never the less I had made a list. A list of where I would be with HiHo when we were five years in. Let me share some of my list, we would have sidewalks, a speed limit through town, a number of other businesses would be promoting the Gardiner Hamlet, and most importantly money wouldn't be a worry. WHAT WAS I THINKING. Silly right? If you noticed many of the things on my list are beyond my control.
My list, if I really needed to have one, should have been more like this....create relationships with customers, give back to the community, challenge my creative side, explore new channels of promoting, expand product selection, develop the HiHo brand. Right? I wouldn't have been so disappointed.
So much accomplished and so silly of me to let emotions blurry my real goals.Five years and HiHo is just fine....and me too.