Giving Thanks

I've been thinking a lot this Thanksgiving season for all that I'm thankful for, and it's a lot.  This has easily been one of the most challenging years of my life, and fortunately it has left me feeling grateful.  

I'm so grateful for my family and friends, who have been supportive, understanding and excited while we transitioned from Bellissima to Lisa August.  I'm especially grateful to my Grandfather, without him this never could have happened.  

I'm grateful to sketchy NYC real estate deals that fell through, because we never would have ended up in our building, and I can't see us in any other building at this point.  

I'm grateful for our co-workers for coming with us and adapting to our situation with such ease, even when things were so up in the air we didn't know if they would come back down. 

I'm grateful to have a jewelry line that people want (even in this economy), and customers who not only stood by us patiently for the past year while everything got sorted out, they cheered when we returned.  

I'm grateful to my manfriend who I began dating at the height of all the craziness, who calmly listened to and even seemed sincerely interested in my drama, and advised us with our building when we needed the advise.

I'm so grateful to my father who is the hardest worker I know, and probably the most generous person I know.  He has his own business, yet comes here on his day off and builds us shelves, tables and does whatever else we need for things to run smoothly.

Most of all, I'm grateful-ssimo to Lenore, my Mother, who I'll never be able to repay or emulate.  She's one of those people who should have been put on Oprah and showered with gifts and pampered for all that she does.  She has always been the perfect Mother and a best friend, but she has also always been a very hard worker and business owner.  Now I get to be partners with this business owning machine, who has some how gotten better with age.  Sometimes I feel like I'm the older one and she has more energy than me! Thanks, partner...

Oh, and I'm grateful I get to be Lisa August!