I have been reading lately (again) about busyness, or as writer
Barbara Ehrenreich calls it, the “cult” of busyness. It’s a common refrain; when someone asks us how we are, we reply “busy!’ I know I do. It’s a reflexive, easy answer. What do I mean when I say that? That I have more to do than I seem to have time for? Sure, doesn’t everyone? Sometimes, I am referring to the shop, where busyness means a successful business. And sometimes it’s just something to say, a possible shield to true connection.
Now that school is out (or almost out), families can step off the treadmill that the end of the school year seems to be: completing school work and projects, graduations (even from kindergarten), school plays, teacher gifts, last assemblies, recitals, and more. When I chat with the moms who come to Heartfelt, I get a sense that it is all too much busyness, that relief comes when it’s finally over. Cherished memories? Maybe. Or would these memories have more meaning if there just weren’t quite so many of them?
And now we launch into summer, the season to be cherished, especially in Minnesota. Vacation travels, day and sleep-away camps, outings, picnics, bicycling, swimming, farmers markets…the list of possibilities is rather endless, even for (or maybe especially for) families where both parents work outside the home. I think the paradox is that the more experiences we try to fit into our lives, the less memorable each can be. I’m not sure if it’s that less is more–maybe it’s that less is truly less, that doing less can make our lives more spacious, with room to just be.
One could say that the crafts we offer at Heartfelt are just one more thing to add to that long list. But our customers tell us that having time with their loved ones while making something together adds to their sense of calm, rather than taking something away. We work hard to make your craft experience as accessible as possible, by offering crafts on a drop-in basis, at a variety of prices.