Word on The Street

Is that people have been wondering where we've been. I guess we put up a sign saying we would be away, but we forgot to tell everyone why. We have had quite the year and much of it contributes to the sporadic hours we have been forced to have at the store. I can be a rather private person from time to time, but all of our customers have been so amazing and supportive that I feel everyone deserves the full story...

My journey began last year when my father past away. My family was aware of his failing health, but not knowing when his heart disease would win the battle was hard. Every time he was rushed to the hospital, we thought it would be his last. After 6 weeks of long hospital stays, my father was placed in hospice care and passed, peacefully, at home. He was the patriarch of our family and his passing is deeply felt.

What we were not expecting after losing my father was the immediate decline of my mother. About six years ago she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's but had not started to exhibit any of the classic symptoms. Sure, she would tell the same stories and be a little “forgetful”, but that was about it. Unfortunately, my father's illness affected my mom's condition for the worse.

My parents had been married 54 years and we believe that my father's passing was too much for her to handle and her disease took over in a matter of weeks, literally. She became so bad while my father was on hospice care that she began asking when he was going to get up out of bed. It was very sad to tell her daily that he wouldn't be. So just when we thought we were out of the woods and life would return to some type of normalcy, we were faced with another hurdle. Granted it was not one we minded taking on, but a hurdle none the less.

So here we are today. After moving my mom twice and helping her heal from emergency brain surgery, she is perfectly settled in a wonderful memory care facility. For a while there were a lot of balls up in the air and thankfully we caught almost all of them! =)

Now it's time to move forward and get down to some serious scrapbooking!

I was so excited to go to CHA this summer and do a lot of fun shopping. We have a ton of new goodies coming into the store. We're really looking foward to getting them here to share with everyone. We also have other fun things up our sleeves to share, including classes and store events. =)

Thanks again for everyone's understanding and support. All of you made dealing with these hard times that much easier.

Comments

[Priscilla]

Karen ~ You and your family are in my prayers.

[Kari Eskridge]

Well I'm glad to hear things are back under control... hugs... what a tough year! We are all here for you.

[Cherryl]

We are here for you. Thank you for sharing, it was very brave of you to open up to us all. Sending hugs!