HELLO, BIG GIRL…
September 19, 2019
Jeremy and I moved to Columbia on our 3-year wedding anniversary. March 24, 2005. It was my job that brought us and he was gracious enough to start over in a whole new career to allow me to take the promotion that moved us here. I thought at the time that Columbia was a “stop-over”. We’d be here a couple years and then on to the next place. I was pretty career driven.
But God changed my heart.
We were trying to have a baby and things just weren’t working.
During those three years we were trying to conceive Jeremy and I had a lot of “us” time. We were big on Date Days Out and then movies at home at night. We would ride the Katy Trail together; heading from Scott to McBane and eventually all the way to Rocheport. We’d have food and drinks somewhere along the way. I remember the very first time I saw the Big Bur Oak tree.
“Hello Big Girl…”
She was magnificent and I had never seen ACORNS so big.
“Oh the things you must have seen..in your almost 400 years on this earth.”
Each time we had friends or family come visit us for the first time, we always had to take them out to the Big Tree.
Over time, I started questioning my career, and I’m certain every other life choice I had made in my first 34 years of life. So much so that by the time we stepped into the Dr.’s office in April of 2008, for what would be our last chance at conceiving a child; I had quit my job. Uncertain about what the outcome of that treatment cycle would be but VERY CERTAIN that our life was about to change forever. I would either become a mom, and if that happened, after all the trial we had faced, I knew I wanted to stay home with our baby. OR I would begin the excruciating grieving process of losing the biological family I had dreamed of and would have to figure out what life would look like without children. I was in a place where I knew there was no way I wanted to do the job I had been doing for the rest of my life if that were the case. I just wanted to turn everything upside down. And so I did.
God answered our prayers with not one baby, but three. Our twins Chance and Luci were born in the fall of 2008 and their little sister Anni came along in 2011. I stayed home with them for 5 years, and never looked back to the career I had left behind. I’m still not sure how I got the courage to do that at that time. As Chance and Luci grew closer to Kindergarten I started pondering what my next phase of life was going to look like. Fairly certain it would include some kind of work outside the home, but wanted to pursue something in a completely different field than I had left before kids.
Enter Plume.
Over the last 10 years since Chance, Luci & Anni were born we’ve taken many, many family bike rides on the Trail. I’ve given up a lot since opening Plume but one thing that has remained constant is our love of family bike rides. We’ve always made time for them, mostly on Sunday’s now since I work many Saturdays. Since we’ve lived in our home off Route K, we almost always use the McBaine Trail Head. Most trips are incomplete without a jaunt past the Big Tree.
We have pictures of all our many visits out there some where on another hard drive, but I actually didn’t know I was going to write about all this tonight, and I can’t find them. Recently, one Saturday while I was working Jeremy and the kids decided to take Charlie for a drive and actually drove out to the Big Tree. He snapped this picture with his phone while he was there…
Then he turned it into this…
And then he made this…
And out came this…
We’re never quite sure when we try something new if it will resonate with everyone else like it does us. So we printed a very limited first run of our Big Tree Tee. We have a few printed on gray and a few on this beautiful heathered “clay” color. If you would like to grab one, they’re in the shop this week! We also have beautiful professional images of the tree made into art prints, cards and wooden coasters from Lana over at Art & Soul Photography, as well as cards and prints from Jenny McGee.
I think you guys know by now that Plume has always been an extension of what matters to me. Helping others introduce their goods to you, finding things I adore that make me squeal because they’re quirky or cute, or that make me cry because they remind me what is really important. I never want to just go buy stuff and “sell it to you”. I hope you always see the value in the stories we tell, in what we create, and the hand-made goods we share with you.
Maybe the Big Tree is one of those “places for you” like it is for me and my family. And if it is…I hope this tee brings you joy. You can order one HERE.
See you in the shop! We’re opening back up at 10am!
