Out of Order

    As I started sharing the history of the Chesapeake Bay Christmas Company I had made an unconscious decision to leave out  a part of its story that was a very unpleasant part of my life. But in order to be honest I felt I had to give that part of my story a place on the page. .
    When I first arrived in Virginia (1990) I met my first friend. We became very close very fast as I had left my life behind in Oklahoma and did not yet know anyone in New Kent, VA. She was a good friend. She admired my painting and encouraged me. We spent many hours together doing many craft projects and eventually decided to start our own craft company together and to start attending craft shows with the items we produced. We did this together for a couple of years but our friendship began to feel the pressure of a business that we did not see eye to eye on. It ended badly. It was not either one of our faults it just was what it was. I bought my partner 's stake in the business to end it as positively as I could, and sadly (after trying every way to save our friendship) I had to leave them both behind. It was one of the hardest times in my life.    
    As this chapter closed I knew that I would continue on and start over with a business of my own... and I knew that I would call it  "The Chesapeake Bay Christmas Co". That was all that I knew though, and those first steps toward building a business were not only scary but marked with the failure of a small craft partnership that went before it. I would take stock over the next couple of years of what I had learned from this...and try not to make the same mistakes again. I would also try to heal my hurt of losing a friend over business...a lesson that I vowed I would never repeat!
   So I guess this blog should actually precede the last one. I just  made the decision to share this part of my history because it is actually a part of Chesapeake Bay Christmas Company's foundation. The good the bad and all in between have brought me forward to this point in time where I am who I am and that is good.
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