New Beginnings for 2010...

For those of you who find these longer Newsletters inane, mindless, and irrelevant (only once a month thereabouts, so these can't be all THAT painful, no??? :-) please jump now to the pertinent articles for Consignor changes in 2010, Story Hour and Brix Club, etc.  I sincerely hope you save a little at our store to help send your little ones to College, and in return we hope to do the same for ours :-)  For those who want to be a part of something bigger, read on...

Fragile as the new seedling, LLaL grows stronger each year.  I can feel it.  Tiring, yes.  Confusing, definitely.  Challenging, absolutely.  Fraught with pitfalls, missteps, stupid decisions, wishful thinking, good luck, bad luck, fights, kisses, and LIFE.


Marriage?  Kids?  Entrepreneurialship?  The above description applies to them all.  And through everyone's facade and bravado we are reminded on occasion of our timidity, humbled and penitent lest we become too big for our own britches.

Thanks for all the prayers and words of encouragement for Fran's husband of 40 years passing on last week.  I'll end this newsletter with a brief tribute.

And as our family starts 2010 with a bittersweet tear, we are (or at least I am) filled with a profound sense of Hope, anticipation even, for the upcoming year.  We have learned so much and are trying so hard it seems like if we only hang on long enough it will all be worth it.  And what IS it worth?  2009 allowed us to help a family who lost their world when their house burned down, gave a car to another family (well used and "runnin' on Love", mind you), collected food for a pantry, and helped over 1000 people save a little here, get cash a little there, and try to make heads in this tail-spinning world.

The next Chapter will be even better :-)

The wisest thing anyone ever said to me (and she may very well regret it ;-)  was "Where there's a Will, there's a Way."  My wife of 15 years taught me that Life Lesson, and rest assure she can attest to the strong (she might paraphrase stubborn) will of the "Entrepreneur-Psycho-Crazy-Man-Boy-Dreamer-Husband" type.

With the passing of a family member and the beginning of a New Year, I hope you grant me a little extra grace as I ruminate a wee bit longer than a normal Newsletter :-)  As usual, there seems like sooo much to tell you about the store!

Here's hoping that you share the same vibrant sense of potential, limitless possibilities, and blessed Life moments that are coming your way this upcoming year.

Ready or not :-)

Regards,
-Brian "Da Boss Man" :-)

PS - Yeah, I couldn't remember what "ruminate" meant either and had to look it up...  Teach your kids Dictionary.com and they will have a priceless tool for Life :-)  It has a fantastic dictionary, thesaurus, and "close enough" spelling tools on the planet.  Ruminate means "to ponder."  And why, per chance, did the wizened author not simply use "ponder" above for the reader?  Same reason the withered, shriveled author chose "wizened" and not "wise" - to make you think a little ;-)