This is the best photo that I can find of "The Shop". This building is in back of my house. It has been an intregral part of my life for about 35 years. I started working here when my son was 3 months old. I wasn't going to work for a while and I was going to stay home with my son. But my father asked that I come and help a couple days of the week. It seemed like a fine idea. I didn't realize at the time that that decision was a life changing idea.At the time, it was a chance for my mother to see my son and have a strong connection with him. They both thrived on being together. It allowed me to continue breast feeding him without any interuption. I got a chance to work with my father. It was all good.
But as life goes forward, things change. My father's contract with a firm that he had sold a design to failed. He decided that he would go back into business full time, now that he had my help. Inch by inch, I was pulled further along into the electronics world and the production of product. I am not saying that I went unwillingly but there was always a slight feeling of resistance on my part.
About 12 years later an opportunity came to sell the designs that he had developed and I felt that it would not end up in my favor. It was at this point that I committed myself wholeheartedly to the business. An agreement could not be found with that firm. I was pleased and I decided that I would take over much more of the sales area.
I remember the first time that I was going out on a sales call, I was awake all night. I kept going over in my mind what I would say and trying to anticipate what they would say. I am not a natural sales person and it takes a lot out of me to put myself forward. I planned sales convention shows, school shows, mailings and newsletters. I did all that I could conceive of doing to further the venture.
I also began to design sound systems as well. I have tried many designs and some were good but some were lasting. It was the lasting ones that filled my heart with contentment.
But the circle closed about 1 1/2 years ago and I wanted to get back to my first love. And that was clothing design. I found the fulfillment that I was looking for in designing purses and realize that I needed to do that.
I thinking that I am finally going to be able to do that and at the same time pass the sound business off to someone that will take it further into the future.
3 comments:
You are designing the purses now and will be able to devote more time to that end soon?
Your backyard looks like a lovely garden of lawn and flowers...how nice to have had your work always so close to your home.
Oh, I loved reading this story about you. How fascinating and how often, it seems we are drawn into things that we don't have a plan for in our minds. Yet, it gave your mother a chance to develop a relationship with your son, and that is something that one could never take away. What a gift that must have been for your mother.
I always wondered about the handbags. You had such a talent for this type of design and it seemed so different than what you spent your life in as a career. Now I understand. All along, the design dream had been there and was being expressed finally.
I think you are on a new and exciting adventure and I am so happy for you! It will be fun to see how you develop this. I love the photo of your garden too.
It sounds like you have a much deeper spiritual connection to making things with cloth? I love your handbags, so I hope you will continue sharing this journey with us. I just finished reading Traveling with Pomegranates by sue monk kidd and her daughter ann. which is a story of their journeys toward a new phase in their lives and about new phases in all our lives.
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