Get prepared for a lot of "childhood memory" stories. For whatever reason I am experiencing huge moments of flash backs to events in my earlier years. They are seemingly random, come up at the oddest of times, and I want to capture them in the format I know best, blogging. Maybe some of them will jolt your memories and have you dreaming of childhood again as you lounge around in your hammock this summer.
I distinctly remember my first "serious" business venture. Sure there had been the typical lemonade stands on the street corners, but I'm talking planned and prepared business. My age? Around 14 or 15 I believe but don't hold me to that. The business was selling African violets at the Louisburg Cider Mill fall festival. I had all summer to get my plants growing and ready. Mom helped me figure out what needed to be done. Little paper cups for plant pots, fresh soil, a big table in the basement with grow lights hanging above, watering can and lots of TLC. We took starts from her big mama violets by plucking leaves and dipping them in vermiculite, which I still really don't know what that miracle dirt is but it worked.
There were over a hundred little cups under the grow lights with just a single leaf sticking out. But within weeks that one leaf started growing multiple leaves. Once big enough we broke them into mini plantings, repotting them all in cute little colorful pots. Now the hard part was keeping them alive and hoping they would all be blooming by the time of the festival.
Mom explained how we had to keep track of our expenses so we'd know how much our profit really was after the sale. All I could see were dollar signs in my eyes. Hey this was serious money for me! The day of the festival we loaded up the car and set up our booth. We ended up selling almost every single violet and came home with several hundred dollars of which I received a portion. I felt rich! I felt enlightened. I felt like it was just the beginning of all kinds of possibilities.
My Mom taught me the basics of business that summer and lit an eternal fire in my entepreneurial spirit. Great parenting! Great experiences. I wonder if my own kids will have stories like this to tell someday or if I missed out teaching them life lessons in such a fun and creative way.
What I've come to realize is sometimes kids (even grown up ones) get hung up on all the things our parents did wrong in raising us. I'm a bit guilty of that one. The older I get the more I recognize (and empathize) how hard it was raising 5 energetic and ornery kids with little money and both parents working. I look at us all now and give them both a pat on the back. They did
alright. We all turned out better than alright. I hope one day my own
kids can say the same thing.
The more I focus on leaving bad memories behind (usually me getting in trouble for something I actually did wrong!) it leaves room for all the really good memories to settle in up front and center. I like it that way.
These daisies are magnificent. They are so beautiful to look at and to photograph.
