Hello Again My Friend

I have been absent for a long while, but every day I have thought of coming back. So, where have I been?

I am sure, that unlike me, you were actually paying attention to all the hustle and bustle going on in our world over the past year and half. The sub-prime mortgage crisis. Fannie Mae. Freddie Mac. Gas prices rising and rising. Slow, daily sinking of the financial markets, followed each hour and each day by the media (and the sidewalk board owned by the pub down the street from us.) I personally thought not to waste my time with this kind of "STUFF".

But, sometime around a year ago, somewhere in my new- mommy-sleep-deprived mental fog, I had to take note of all that was happening, when friends, neighbors and acquaintances, started calling and emailing, first to let us know of their upcoming layoff, and then a few months later, a more panicked call to check if we know of any jobs they could apply for.

Talking as a true optimist and from the safety of my year-long maternity leave secured by my employer, I encouraged my friends to enjoy this mandatory vacation. That going back to work was just a matter of weeks.

And as fate would have it, just a little while later, to my astonishment, the UrbanFamily also joined the dreaded statistics. A company that was co-founded by my husband as a labor of great and passionate love, and joined by dear friends and employees who believed in the idea, had to undergo an acquisition which left the management and employees without a paycheck or an insurance plan.

This brings us to the time of my last blog.

That night, I prepared a special meal to celebrate the four wonderful years we had just experienced. To celebrate the hard work, the vision, and the sacrifice of long working hours my husband had made to give life to an idea. To celebrate all the people, from employees and investors, to millions of users and adopters, who made the impossible, possible and exciting. To celebrate that we live in a place where your passion and drive can turn a dream into a reality, and should that dream hit a wall, your courage to take a risk and believe in something bigger than yourself is still applauded.

We knew that night that on an evening not too far off, we will be celebrating once again, dreams and adventures to come. That night we bid farewell with great love and fondness, to a company that had become a part of the family. May it live long and prosper with its new owners.

Then as scary as it was, I had to listen to my own advice, and enjoy this mandatory vacation…

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