Murder Hornets and Earthquakes

I mean, seriously?  I dare not ask if anything else can go wrong in 2020...let us not test the universe.  Last time I spoke those words Mother Nature told me to hold her beer, pushed up her sleeves, chuckled and then whispered in my ear "murder hornetssss".  This year has been horrifying and it seems that every time we think it can't get any worse, it does. In January I was crying over the loss of wildlife from the brushfires in Australia and then things kept snowballing from there.  Just to touch on some of the things that occurred this year, from literally the get-go of 2020...January: the afore mentioned tragic brushfires,  WHO was notified of the novel coronavirus in China, someone dies from the virus in China, the impeachment of POTUS (no comment), the first case of coronavirus hits the US in Washington state, Kobe and his daughter lose their lives in a helicopter crash, Brexit.  February: Trump is acquitted (still no comment), Harvey Weinstein is found guilty of being a monster, WHO declares the virus a pandemic. March: the worst drop in the Dow since 1987, the 2020 Olympics are postponed, businesses are closed down and everyone is ordered to shelter-in-place.  Just to add to the horror show that is 2020 we lose even more iconic and beloved people like Kenny Rogers, Charlie Daniels, Regis Philbin, Bilbo Baggins (aka Ian Holm) and Chadwick Boseman!  Somewhere in there 2020 throws in the strongest earthquake North Carolina has seen in ninety-four years (it literally woke me up) and Asia shares the scariest flying thing alive with us called the freaking MURDER hornet.  Honestly, at this point, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if I turned on my tv and it just started spitting out all the Walking Dead characters.

As most of you are aware I own a flower shop in Cary, North Carolina.  I'm so proud and blessed to be counted among other woman who own their own local shops and businesses.  There are so many positive things to say about owning one's own business that is their passion but today I want to talk about how this year has tested each and every one of us who have the responsibility to keep people employed and safe during this ass of a pandemic.  It has been hard...very hard.  In March we received the news, along with so many other small businesses, that we had to close our doors until further notice as we were not deemed essential.  I was crestfallen to say the least.  We had already implemented extra precautions to avoid being shut down but alas that did not stop the State and County making a mass decision to have many of us shut down completely.  We spent the final days we had to complete the shutdown getting flowers to as many senior citizen centers as possible because we had already seen that they were not allowed any visitors, Also, during that time I spent hours upon hours and days upon days writing letters and making phone calls outlining the precautions we had already put into place but to no avail.  My "argument" was that we certainly were essential as we were able to deliver love in the form of flowers to loved ones since travel and visitors were halted weeks prior to our shutdown.  We had put into place a no-contact delivery system and a curbside pickup system which was working wonderfully and quite frankly I was being even stricter than many restaurants.  I took notes about how when food was being delivered people were still sharing the delivery drivers pen and swapping receipts and I made sure to cut that step out first thing.  Anyway, I could go on and on about how I did my best to keep everyone safe but in the end nothing worked.  I was crushed at every turn for what felt like forever - especially knowing that so many people out there could really use the comfort that flower arrangements bring.  I can't even find the words for how I felt about the funerals that didn't get the attention they deserved.  Weddings were being cancelled or rescheduled at best but most were requesting refunds, and those hits just kept coming.  I was scared to death.  My family and friends were so supportive and gave me the strength to keep fighting, and I knew I'd do whatever it took to survive.  This whole scenario lasted about a month but it felt like a year.  Eventually, one of my letters to the State and subsequently the County (which, if you weren't aware overrides the State when it comes to things like this - or more accurately, whoever has the more strict ruling supersedes the other.  More times than not, the County is more pinpointed and strict) worked and we were allowed to "open" again.  By that, I mean we could reinstate our curbside pickups and no-contact deliveries.  I was beyond happy!  I was following the rules to the T and even went as far as to only allow one designer at a time in the shop even though more could be accommodated with social distancing.  In fact, this first week of September is the first week I've allowed two designers to work at the same time and I have them placed well apart from each other with gloves and masks.

Even more recently we were allowed to have customers in our shop but I had been watching all this drama unfold on social media and other outlets about people fighting the mask rule that I decided it was not time to unlock my doors until the Governor made it mandatory.  I refused to put my employees that I consider family at risk because someone thinks they are having their rights taken away by a piece of cloth over their nose and mouth when out in public.  Personally, I'm dumbfounded by this thought process, and this is something that I could go on and on about, but I'll just say this and leave it out there - if you're not wearing a mask then you are the problem.  I have not posted anything on social media about my personal feelings on the matter because everything I say or do can affect my small business, but there it is folks; now you know where I stand.  I want to see my parents this year. I want to hug them, eat with them, kiss my daddy on the cheek again and have some of my mama's amazing lasagna at her kitchen table. I can't do that until I know we are all safe and that only happens if we all do the right thing. However, what I've witnessed lately has led me to feel that it is time to test the waters.  The 15th of this month marks my third anniversary of owning my shop and I have decided that that would be the perfect occasion to welcome in walk-in customers again!  We have worked hard to rearrange the shop so that there is flow and space and have planned other precautions as well and although I'm nervous I know that this is the right timing.  I'm so excited that I'm actually giddy about it!  Am I scared?  Yes of course, but what I've seen at the grocery stores and other businesses has renewed my faith in people, and I feel that this will be really great.  Everyone who has been coming by the shop for flowers has shown nothing but awesomeness and understanding doing curbside services. They wear masks and call from their cars, and I can't thank them and any of you enough for doing that, not just here, but everywhere if you're doing the same thing.  So, that's my reason for this post; I wanted to tell everyone how I was feeling about 2020 and also explain the path I've taken to get to the decision of opening up my shop again.

Before I end this I did want to say some positive things about this year as well because it hasn't all been negative.  I've seen some of the biggest acts of kindness happening all around me and that just makes my whole self smile.  I've seen neighbors helping neighbors, parents appreciating teachers more, car parades for birthday's, people sending food, household items and yes, flowers too to others just because. Outpouring of support to small locally owned business which I cannot thank all of you enough for that - each one of you who has ordered food, hand-crafted gifts from local artists, flowers from your local florist and the list goes on. You have no idea the impact you have made.  Not every small business made it and that is tragic but those that did owe each of you so much, so I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  We are all in this together and that's a fact.

But let's be real...2020 needs to find a new planet to pick on!  The good news is that it appears Mother Nature forgot to fully follow through on her murder hornet threat.