My Dad

When we were in the thick of it, I didn't want to share too much because my outlook was really hopefully. For friends who stopped by the Nashville shop back in September, we were pretty open with why we were closing and what was making us do it so quickly. My dad was the reason we decided to move down to Florida and not head straight to Portugal or back to New York. After a year and a half of tending to his needs, they grew so much that there was no way we could live in Florida, and also have a shop in Nashville, be attentive parents, work our jobs and manage all my dad's medical needs - so another thing gave and we shut the store, scaled back on work, and shared the tasks at hand. I don't regret it because to gave us more time with my dad and helped us serve his needs better, but I was sad to see some pieces of our lives go.

My dad wound up having something called COPD, which is generally something you get from smoking. He hadn't smoked in 30 years, but the effects were lasting. He had an unusual, rapid decline and was on oxygen for less than a year before he ultimately passed this month. Every piece of our lives had struggled in some way to stay above water - it's hard thing to do, try and keep someone alive. Especially without any help. Especially with a young child who has his own needs. We tucked ourselves away for a while because it was a very painful thing to see someone you love hurt so bad and need so much, so we focused ourselves on him. We really wanted him to know he wasn't alone and we weren't going anywhere without him.

This is the reason for the pause. Every time we tried to "bring it back" something new would happen, but now there is nothing "new" to happen. We plan to focus our energy back here again with all the bits we accomplished in the "in-between" these years and fill in some blanks and roll out fresh content weekly.