Connection
"it's not what we're doing that matters but how we spend our day"
The snow is melting, birds are chirping, and the warm afternoon sun is serving as a great reminder that life is always ready after a long New England winter to burst into a million shades of green as soon as possible. The shop is buzzing with activity, artists are waking up from a long winter’s nap and readying themselves for a busy season of creating and selling their wares. People are finding Lucy & Moosey’s Gifts and beginning to understand what we are all about. It’s hard to imagine that we are still yet officially two months open for business, it feels more like two years. We began getting the shop ready December 1st, the work behind the scenes is invisible when done well, yet we can feel it even if no one else saw it.
Artists are showing up not only to drop off new pieces but also to support one another with purchases, accolades, and forging new connections. They are seeing one another for the first time on social media and sometimes even bumping into each other in the shop which always feels electric and as if their meeting carries some sort of contagion, affecting us all with a feeling of giddy hope for all that is to come. Lisa from Gaia’s Ground was the first to stop by today. You can find her work at Lucy & Moosey’s Gifts or on her Etsy Shop. She’s also on Instagram and Facebook, definitely worth a follow. She is new to our shop and very new to me. I began stalking her and the work she does with beach stones before we even opened our doors in Kennebunk. Since I began liking her posts and making space for her items in the shop, I’ve noticed she has reached out to many of the other local artists and have begun connecting with them and showing up to support their efforts with likes and comments on their pages.
The real magic in doing good business comes from the connections we make and the experiences we share when we set our intents on showing up for one another. The pie is never limited, the premise of operating from scarcity is outdated, and we become what we accept out of life. Our stories are defined only by the chapters we write, we are the protagonist and from our own actions and choices we define how our story reads best. To shop local goes much deeper than just crossing something off a list. To show up for local businesses, artists, authors, and makers is to show up for yourself. When we forgo keeping our currencies in the hands of people we literally meet on the street and place our monies in the hands of the unknown, we are casting off our ability to write the story we most want to read. To invest in our local economies is investing in the place that we call home.
The best part of being a shopkeeper in Maine is to experience the joy felt by someone who is seen for their passions and purpose. I love being able to text someone to let them know that they sold their first item, 2nd, or even 37th. I get excited when I have to ask a local artist if they can restock their pieces at the same time relaying to them how much they are beloved by our local community. This is good business and I wouldn’t trade it for all the “gold” in Fort Knox, nor to be immeshed in technology again, no matter how much money can be made. Being a shopkeeper in Maine feels oddly like being Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street. Michael and I get to see what people are going to receive before they even know someone else is thinking of them. We experience gift giving from behind the curtains, seeing the care and delight people have when they find just the right gift for someone they care about. This feels both magical and incredibly hopeful for a warm and wonderful tomorrow. It’s in this web of connections made and held together in this shop and the ones that came before it that makes me realize I am exactly where I’m meant to me. This time around I just have the added bonus of building a business with a wonderful human and friend along with some crazy talented artists, authors, and makers. It’s in the connections we make that we realize what living is all about.
There is something quietly magical about spaces where people show up for one another like this. It is never just about the shop or the things on the shelves. It is about the invisible threads forming between people who believe in creating something beautiful together. Posts like this remind me that community is its own kind of currency.