24/01/2025
It’s been a long time yall.
I want to apologize for being MIA for so long. Some of you know the reasons, and some of you don’t. Some of you have become like family to me in my years of serving my community, and have helped me through this awful time. It’s been a while now, and I have done some praying, some healing, and some growing, and I’m ready to share with you all some news!
In summer of 23, all of you know, I shut both of my brick and mortar locations down. And many of you didn’t understand why. When I started my business, it was just me. When Chris came along, he was not only my spouse, but my business partner. Most of you knew Chris. He was always cheerful, happy, smiling, and had a laugh that would blow your ear drums out. Last year, we were dealing with a lot personally, and decided that we couldn’t deal with both, the stress of our personal lives and the stress of our businesses. So we made the painful decision to shut our stores down with the hope of one day, restructuring and reopening. So many of you reached out to us, hoping the same after we closed. It was amazing to see just how many people we had rooting for us.
We took some time to focus on ourselves and family.
The truth is, you never really know what some people are going through. Even when it seems like everything is ok, sometimes it’s not. Almost exactly 1 year after closing our stores, my husband, committed su***de.
To say it was a devastating blow to our family is an understatement. I think anyone would go through a wide array of emotions and fears. In the past 6 months I became non existent to most everyone. I disappeared. I didn’t answer your messages. I didn’t help you with your projects. And I want to apologize for that. Originally, when my husband passed away, I just knew that the creative part of me that ran these businesses died too. I swore to my closest friends that I would never build furniture again, I would never run my laser again, I would never paint again, and all of them told me to give it time. It’s been 7 months. I am still healing. But in my healing process do you know what I’ve done? I started painting again. Ive started designing again, I am making plans to get my laser running again. I am making plans to REIGNITE who I am! This tragic event that has taken place in my life has made me remember why I started my business in the first place.
I believe God has a plan for everyone, and everything happens for a reason. Sometimes we can’t see what that reason is….
This year is for me and my kids. This year we will grow, we will heal, we will prosper.
This year Rustic Designs will return!
Stay tuned!