Quarantine. Self Distancing. Shelter in place. As a small business owner those words completely shattered me. I am talking full blown mental meltdown on Facebook live while I talked to my community; that kind of shattered. This coming from the girl that refuses to cry in public. The girl who SCREAMS positive vibes from the top of her lungs. The girl who refuses to break and the one who never stops fighting.
March 17th, 2020, I closed the doors to The Black Daisy for an indefinite amount of time. It felt like I was closing the doors to the dream that I worked so hard for. The dream that I put EVERYTHING I had into it for the past 4 years. We had just celebrated our 4 year anniversary and I felt like I could conquer anything; and suddenly I felt completely conquered myself.
The unknown crept into a huge lump in my throat and I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath. What if we could never open our doors? What if we never made it? What if we didn’t survive this? Everything I’ve ever worked for, poof, gone in the blink of an eye. This is my career. This isn’t just some venture I took on, this is part of my family’s livelihood. This is part of what puts food on our table. This is my heart and my spirit. This is my ministry. This is a community of some bad a** women that has grown over the years. This is my girl gang.
And suddenly, Waco, YOU SHOWED UP. My entire community of supporters, you showed up. You rallied around me and every locally owned small business and you said, WE ARE HERE. You lifted me up on your shoulders, shouting at the top of your lungs, “YOU CAN DO THIS, KEEP GOING, WE ARE HERE FOR YOU!” And with you encouraging me to rise up, I did. Like a freaking phoenix from the ashes, I am still going.
I don’t think it’s by accident that God uses people to remind us of our calling. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that God uses our communities to remind us that we are never alone. When you shouted, YOU CAN DO THIS, I heard God through you. And Waco, I don’t know if I could have kept going without you. I am so proud to live in a city that rallies behind their small businesses the way Waco does.
THANK YOU WACO. For the love you are showing small businesses. For the way you are showing us that we are in this together. For lifting so many of us up after we felt like we had fallen. I speak for a lot of my small business friends when I say this, WE FEEL YOUR SUPPORT AND WE HAVE CRIED SO MANY TEARS AT THE LOVE WE HAVE FELT DURING THIS TIME.
There’s no one like you Waco. And I’m so proud to be part of that.
