Weathering the Storms
“She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails.” Elizabeth Edwards
When this magazine was birthed I was living a comfortably predictable life in Kentucky with three small boys and a hardworking husband. By all accounts, I was the traditional stay-at-home mom. Over the course of a decade I created a haven for friends and family. We hosted dozens of parties each year under the big maple tree in the back yard. I started a blog to chronicle those milestones in a mother’s journey. I kept myself challenged by upping my domestic know-how and eventually dipped my toe in the world of business by profiting from those skills.
When the idea for CAKE&WHISKEY came to me like an Oprah “ah-ha” moment nearly two years ago, it was unforeseeable how much the skill of adaptability would need to be cultivated (sometimes internally kicking and screaming) if I were to see the idea through.
No longer was my morning coffee the first thing that got me out of bed, as a rigorous schedule that started well before the boys tumbled down the stairs for breakfast became the new norm. No longer was this slightly-introverted girl able to slip quietly into preschool to pick up my son, for national speaking engagements pushed me far outside my scope of comfort. And no longer was I able to devote the same energy to keeping up with friends as nights and weekends became my ‘no phone’ time, allowing me to wholly focus on the four dashing men in my life. Yet, ultimately those adjustments, ever so slight, became the crucial catalyst allowing the potential for CAKE&WHISKEY’s growth possible. Without them, you would not be reading this letter.
This morning I write this from a small hotel room. In the hush of pre-dawn I’m barely tapping the keys so as not to wake my sleeping boys and husband beside me. For the next three weeks this hotel room will be home as we head into the biggest transition as a family to date.
That maple tree that shaded so many parties now belongs to someone else. The neighbors we shared garden bounties and baked goodies with are no longer our neighbors. The life and business we built in a sleepy southern town now needs to be cultivated in a strange new city. Things change in life and business. Malleability becomes a necessity or we break.
By nature, we tend to buck change, even though what we want more than anything in life is to not remain the same forever. We’re funny creatures that way.
As each feature story in this issue came across my desk, the theme of adaptability and, ultimately, resiliency became my take away. Maybe because as I was reading these stories, I was looking deep for my own source of resiliency and strength in this season of life. We do tend to glean nuggets of wisdom where we need it most, don’t we?
CAKE&WHISKEY gives voice to the stories of women who are on a life and career journey. That would, of course, be each of us. The journey, not the destination, is what we relate to, because no one glides through life unmarked. We all face tragedy and heartache and chaos and the unknown. And the messages of women such as Misty Copeland and Annie Kruyer, when read through the lens of your own story, have the power to resonate deeply.
I am certain that we can learn from and champion each other when we understand that every woman we meet in the boardroom, the locker room, the school parking lot or at the negotiating table is likely also adjusting her sails to weather a storm.