Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A Surprise Delivered by the Postal Service

A women in Rochester was at an Amvets Thrift shop where she bought a box of Christmas cards. When she got home, she realized there were other things in the box: business cards, photographs, a work ID card, and a love letter written from a husband to his wife on their 12th anniversary. The woman took a chance and sent the personal items to the address listed on the business cards with a note saying she hoped people at the address would know the people in the photographs and to let her know if they made it to the right place. 

My grandmother in Buffalo received that bundle in the last week.  The items had belonged to my grandfather who died in October.  The pictures were of him at meetings with friends, spending time on a friend's boat in 2007, and one of him posing with me and my cousins on Easter Sunday in 1987. 

My grandmother misses her husband of 61 years a great deal.  She told my Aunt that she has been looking for a sign since October that he is where he's supposed to be and is happy. My grandmother says she has her answer now.

A side note - I googled the name of the woman who bought the Christmas card box and if the person I found online is the same, she's a widow too. My aunt helped write a note for my grandmother that she will send back to the kind woman whose chance purchase made all of my family smile this past week.

Friday, April 01, 2011

When It's Time To Change, You've Got To Rearrange

There have been some big changes in the works for several of our friends recently, mostly of the moving-out-of-town sort. It's going to be sad to see some of them go, but seeing them head off for new opportunities and adventures has made us think a bit lately.

Both Matt and I have embarked on different interests outside of our regular jobs. We've discussed taking those interests to the next step. Unfortunately, there is a sense that doing that in Jamestown might not be possible. So when our friend, Candy, started sending job listings in Portland, Oregon to me, mostly as a joke, I started looking into possibilities. We've never been to Portland but based on friend's experiences and various stuff I've read on the interwebs, it definitely seems like a vibrant city that has a great art scene.

While we love Jamestown and our friends and family here, we think it may be time to chase the other dreams. With that, we've begun plans to move to Portland where we hope to start on a project Matt came up with, inspired by the Portlandia series. It will be the "Put A Bird On It" web company. Part of our goal is to target artists in Portland and provide them a venue to have websites built around their artwork. Think of it as a very localized Etsy. We figure that the sooner we move, the better given that the housing market is only sucking more and more as the months go on, so our tentative move date is April 31st.

We're very excited about these changes, but sad at the same time as we'll miss this community and everyone. Look for more details in the coming weeks!

Cutting to the Scene with the Pixie

Ten years ago, I decided to do one of the most drastic things I had ever done to my hair. I went from a long style (below collarbone) to a p...