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the above photo is the closest image I could find taken in the past month of how life has felt for the most part. I wanted to share this past month’s challenges in video story form on YouTube, but my video making has been a bit distracted by the above image relating to how life feels currently— important to note, unrelated but related to the greater world struggle — you know about that and all, and who knows — well history knows … and well —- peace is an uphill struggle. so is life … we are all working against gravity here. 

we had some disparaging news right before our winter break from the bag factory regarding some crucial employees … we could not continue the way we were without them (don’t worry, no one died!), and it kinda upended our trajectory that we were gradually, less timidly, feeling better and better about. wild how a single phone call can bring 2 years of planning, learning, and growth to an end so abruptly. 

then you realize you have a lot of other skills and can lean on those, so you lean, but the focus is thin … there are literal tons of loose ends to tie up. you deal with life’s icy waves the best way you know how.

you go for bike rides! obviously. well, you make the best of the weather and the time you have to be introspective, and hash it out on the pedals. 

clarity comes little by little, and some rides it dumps in torrents. I enjoy the new found time to muse and wander a littler again– time that would be ordinarily spent ordering materials for other people’s hand bag brands and checking in with employees to be sure we were matching the zipper tabs to the stitching — do we have enough P.O.’s for next week to cover overhead? are we making any money off making stuff for other people? the answer was usually no, but our own brand floated us well enough. maybe someday that would be different, but we will never know with that set up… and I am okay with that!

you have to be okay with it, because gravity will do it’s thing. gravity will suck you into that icy pit on cedar swamp road where the forlorn witch bride of Lion Gardner will deflate your tires with her swampy spells. 

more time connecting and be in the moment with friends — preferably also on bike rides. but that only happens once a week generally — but aren’t those the highlights! (no question mark needed for me). 

riding/pushing bikes with friends, a tale as olde as time. when did you learn to ride a bike? I was 7 … kinda late … by the time I was 10, it completely defined my social life, and continues to do so. it just gets better and better the more you do it. 

and then there are the rides you can’t get anyone to join you on … thats most of the time when the roads look like the above photo. these times are for introspection — perfect company for the pedals.

I am planning on doing all this justice in video form with more juicy details, but just feeling like typing now without the juice. there are a few hefty things in the air, but big changes are afoot — and I think we are just about to land on our feet. 

please enjoy some photos of January around here.

 

I could go on and on. *news flash* I take a lot of photos. I will leave it here for now.

hope everyone is catching some sun today!

RR XO