The Comfort of a Tree

Mary and I LOVE to do craft shows! We love to meet new people and enjoy meeting other crafters as well. At most every show we’ve done, w
e’ve had the chance to meet someone who really touched us. Those are the moments we live for. They make all the hard work worthwhile.
And trust us: it IS hard work. Doing shows is a LOT of work. We both work full time jobs and are raising children as well, so making time to do craft shows can be challenging. There’s all the work involved with booking shows, sending in applications, taking booth and product photos for show jurors to view, and sometimes when traveling far from home, there are accommodations to make. Oh yeah, then we also must have enough inventory on hand as well. We have to make all our products, package them, and pack up the trailer and head to the show. Then we have to set up and usually spend two 12 hour days doing the show. But, we almost always have something happen to us that makes it all worthwhile.

One time we were doing a show in a part of New York State that had recently been devastated by the remnants of a hurricane. The folks in the local towns had their homes flooded and many of the families were staying (living) at local motels – more than a month after the hurricane hit. This was a very difficult time for many families and it made us realize how lucky we are as well as how fragile our lives really are. To break up the monotony of living in these cramped quarters, a husband and wife decided to take their family to our craft show. The woman wondered by our booth and just fell in love with one of Mary’s trees. The tree was one of my favorites as well - purple and elegant , made with a sand-blasted Manzanita Tree Branch and mounted in square glass - but for some reason it just hadn't sold. We took it to at least a half dozen shows before this one. Mary struck up a conversation with her and found out how she and her family had been living. She found out that for the past month and a half, the family had been living in small motel room because their house was destroyed by the flood. They lost all their belongings and essentially had to start over.

The woman just loved the tree. She loved butterflies, the color purple, and felt a spiritual connection to butterflies. She told us that she wanted to buy it and would display it on the small microwave oven in the motel room where she and her family were living. She said it was going to be the only “non essential” item they owned since the flood had destroyed all their personal belongings. The woman wanted to purchase the tree to bring a sense of home to their small motel room. That small tree ended up providing comfort to a family in desperate need for normalcy.

Wow. What can you say to something like that? You never know where your work will end up. You never know how it will touch a person or what purpose it will serve. It was almost as if the reason the tree didn’t sell before was because it was waiting to help this family get through a difficult time. Mary and the woman hugged and shared an amazing emotional connection.

Mary’s tree ended up providing a family, struggling through a difficult time of their lives, with a small bit of needed comfort. That’s why we do these shows. Those are the experiences that make all the hard work worthwhile.