New Beginnings: A post From the Heart
Sorry I haven’t blogged in so long. I’ve had so many things going on. Besides being busy with the day-to-day Blue Raccoon business, I’ve been going through a monumental life change. Some of you know already, but I’d like to tell you all about it.
Nick and I met at NYU in 1979. One Saturday night, after working my waiter shift at the Mexican Village on Thompson St. in the West Village, my friend Larry, who was the bartender that night, and I walked into his dorm room to change so we could go out dancing. Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall” had just come out and this song was blaring on the stereo. In walks this young kid and Larry introduces us. That was Nick and my first meeting, but he and I didn’t see each other for a while. After a few months Nick lands a job at Mexican Village and we start hanging out and then, eventually we became a couple.
In 1993 we decided to open Blue Raccoon on Church Street in Lambertville. We moved from Hoboken, NJ and rented a cottage in New Hope. After a few slow months the business started to grow and eventually blossom. We moved to 6 Coryell Street in July 1996. We were terrified! What if we can’t make a go of it in a larger space with higher rent? Well, our opening weekend in August 1996 was amazing. Through the years we’ve expanded and contracted. I decided to offer interior design services and got to work with wonderful customers on creating beautiful and comfortable living spaces. Things were looking up. We bought our first house, then moved to a second house in Ottsville, PA. Then in 2014 we bought our house on Clinton Street in Lambertville. This was a complete gut and renovation job as some of you know, if you followed my blog from that time, but we were up to the task.
Eventually, all the stress of owning a business for 20 plus years started to takes its toll on our relationship. Then with a house renovation? Yikes! We decided that we needed to separate and in August 2016 Nick left the store and moved out of the house and I took full control of the store’s day-to-day operations, with the help of Cindy (our fabulous store manager). I decided to take some time to figure everything out before tackling any financial disentanglements. Well, the time has come for us to announce that the house is on the market and that I will take sole ownership of the store.
It’s all very emotional, but we’re both ready to live a happy life, each of us on our own. We still care for each other. How could we not? He and I have been through so much together. Lots of traveling, good times and bad, life challenges, deaths of friends and family members and so much more.
So, there you have it. Blue Raccoon will continue, but in a new era with a renewed vision. I hope you are all happy and looking out for one another. If this experience taught me anything, it’s that we should not take each other for granted. We need to communicate and love each other…look after each other. I hope to see you all soon. Peace.