Dance in the rain

‘Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.’

I have this saying on a wall in my home and I pass by it several times a day.  I originally bought it because I love to dance and have been doing it all of my life.  But in these unprecedented times, these words have come to mean so much more – that we all have to ADAPT to our world as it is evolving and make the most of our lives and experiences in whatever way we can, so that joy can still be found, even in the smallest things.

In my years working at The Millionaire’s Daughter, one of the stories I hear most often, the reason for coming to us, is how life has changed for a consignor, customer or fellow staff member.  Whether it is moving to a new residence/city/country, losing a loved one, gaining a new partner/family, changing jobs, learning a new skill or developing a different  design approach, these changes have one thing in common – that to make these changes people have to ADAPT.

Some people are really good at adapting, thinking “outside the box”, so to speak.  They can move on with little fear or trepidation, being very excited about their new adventure or situation, and would, in fact, dance in the rain if given the option. Other folks, me being one of them, deal with changes in a very rational methodical way, taking “baby steps” to hopefully ensure success.  These different adaptive approaches have been evidenced so clearly in the multitude of videos, pictures and blogs on social media during our COVID months.  I love to watch people throw caution to the wind and show themselves to the world doing or saying things that others would think so uncharacteristic of them.  It puts a smile on my face.  Yet I also respect those who have guided us step by step, in a serious manner, through this difficult time and helped to allay our fears.

Lily and I are very excited to be back in the Oakville store in a few days, as I am sure the other stores’ staff members are.  But we must  ADAPT and learn new ways of providing excellent service, helping our consignors and customers in a different retail climate.  Hopefully it won’t be raining but we will be “DANCING” to a new tune.  We hope we can all be dancing together in the not too distant future!  I’ll even break out my tap shoes!

P.S.

In my last article, “Life is a Puzzle”, there were photos of various “furniture puzzle” pieces that I was putting together.  I asked for your guesses of what I had in mind and I got some great ideas.  Many of you guessed a bench, which in fact it turned out to be.

Now here is the “AHA!!!!!” part.  

I worked for three straight days to assemble the bench with all of the pieces pictured.  My husband made suggestions and my handy neighbour lent his ideas and tools.  In the end, I have realized, when something is too hard there is probably a good reason or it was not meant to be in the first place.  But that does not mean giving up!

Here is where my need to  ADAPT kicked in 

(very slowly though, it still took another day – methodical me!).  

I realized that I just could not include all of the pieces in one unit with the skill set and tools that I had.  So I created the bench, added some brackets and painted the gates to be used separately!  These items will be available for sale at the store in the near future.  

Thanks for reading!

Margaret

Wouldn’t the bench look great with a couple of sunbrella pillows to match your decor?

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