Thursday Thoughts: Happy 17th Birthday!

Inspiration, Wisdom, and Thursday Thoughts for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners and My Dad

On my 17^th Birthday, my two best friends secretly invited all the boys in our grade, that I got along with so famously, to surprise me at a party holding a dozen red roses. I was certainly surprised when I opened the door and saw all my guy friends there!  That birthday ranks up there in my top 5 most memorable ones.

Growing up on a lake meant hanging out on my dock in the summer and being picked up by male friends in boats to watch them waterski. I never said no to a boat ride or hanging out with anyone who invited me especially if it involved being on the water. I also loved be called the “token girl” on many of those warm lake days because I was typically the only girl ready and raring to go at the drop of a dime.

Flash forward to today, my company Women TIES, 17^th Birthday, created on March 3, 2005 on my father’s birthday, chosen specifically to honor him as an early entrepreneurial role model. He would have celebrated his 82^nd year of life today if he didn’t pass away in 2006 on one gorgeous summer day in Portland, Maine, having spent the week at the ocean’s edge with my sister Jill and her family. One of the nurses said to us one day as they saw him lying in bed not able to speak or move, “He is the most handsome stroke patient I’ve ever seen.” We agreed and let him go peacefully into eternal rest 6 days later. He lives on in my son’s, coffee, chocolate cake, the Yankees, American flags, and any silly Chevy Chase movie.

Birthdays are typically days filled with joy, laughter, chocolate cake (my family’s favorite), and gifts; but they are also filled with memories of the past year and lifetime. So today, on this snowy March Day, I not only celebrate my wonderful father’s birthday, but with all the women entrepreneurs who helped to make my company successful the past 17 years. My memories and heart are filled with cherish memories which I savor as much as summer lake days.

So cheers to my wonderful, loving Dad, all my Women TIES Members, and to the chocolate birthday cake I’ll eat later today with champagne as I toast you all who have made my life so full of love, warmth and cherished remembrances.