It isn’t hard for us to find reasons to be thankful. We are truly blessed. Yet some days it is harder than others. Sometimes the din of daily challenges drowns out the good in our lives. There are days when we are just trying to get to the end of the day without stumbling and landing flat on our faces.
This year we have had many challenges and many blessings. The most notable challenge has been having both our father and our mother fighting cancer. They are vibrant, strong, and engaged parents. They both have big personalities. They both are very strong-willed and opinionated. They are both loving and actively involved in our lives and our children’s lives.
You can imagine how scary it is to have them both facing life-threatening diagnoses. It has been humbling and all-consuming at times. Our parents have always set their expectations for us very high. They have led by example. They insist that we suit up, show up, and engage in our careers, our family lives, and our community. They have very different personal motivations and beliefs, but they share the same core value of being accountable and present. There is no “wall-flowering” allowed in the Simmons family.
STUFF celebrated its 20th birthday last week. Since our store’s birthday also falls on the anniversary of our younger sister’s death, we do not make a big deal about it. However, we do enjoy the feelings of success and pride in having built this amazing business that shares so much with so many. We mention this because this year we were given the opportunity to expand our footprint in Brookside and move our store to a larger space up the street. It was exciting and inspiring. It was a dream come true. It was also a stressful and overwhelming decision about our future in business. In the end, we decided to stay put. We are happy with our choice and know the dream will continue to grow and thrive.
This year we all shared a collective challenge in electing new leadership for our country. Election years are historically hard on small businesses, and this cycle was no exception. We love America and believe in its future. We believe in being kind, being accepting, and embracing all people. Mostly, we believe good manners matter. (Another lesson drilled into us by our parents.) So please know everyone is welcome at our store. Everyone. No judgments. No exceptions.
This year, as our parents both faced, once again, how to live with cancer, they both dug deep and found the strength to keep enjoying life. They chose to not be defined by cancer. We faced a major business decision in how to invest in our store’s future. We learned that STUFF is not defined by the size of our physical store, but rather by the size of our commitment to our community. We believe that our passion is larger than any space, so the space we are in will continue to be enough.
We cannot predict what challenges or blessings 2017 has planned for all of us, but we do know we will suit up, show up, and engage. These core values were instilled in us by our parents. We believe life is meant to be lived fully and celebrated.
We are deeply thankful.
P.S. The above photo was taken a couple of weeks ago at “Wings of Hope”, our store’s annual Holiday Open House and benefit for cancer research. From left to right are Sloane, our mom, Casey, and our dad. It was a gorgeous day.
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Love you all! Hugs!